Gurugram: The Gurugram police is investigating whether the illegal in-vitro fertilization (IVF) centre which was recently shut down colluded with private hospitals, ultrasound and other IVF centres in Delhi for trapping donor women, officers said on Saturday.
On June 27, the Haryana health department and city police busted the illegal IVF centre in Sushant Lok Phase 1 that allegedly operated a cross-border surrogacy racket catering to couples from India, China, and Australia. Police identified the owner of the centre as Manju Sharma, who is yet to be arrested.
During the raid, police found a Delhi woman at the centre who had allegedly come to donate her healthy ova in exchange for money. Further probe found that the woman came to the centre following a recommendation from a private hospital in Dwarka Sector-11.
Sandeep Kumar, public relations officer of Gurugram police, said that besides serving notice to Sharma, police will also seek details and inquiry reports from the health department officials and other documents seized during the raid.
“We are trying to uncover the entire network of the nexus and also nab the agents working for Sharma. We have the details of some of them. We are also investigating to ascertain other centres in Delhi assisting Sharma in her illegal activities,” he said, adding that the arrest of the suspects will be made on the basis of evidence that includes documented proof and reports from the health department.
{{/usCountry}}“We are trying to uncover the entire network of the nexus and also nab the agents working for Sharma. We have the details of some of them. We are also investigating to ascertain other centres in Delhi assisting Sharma in her illegal activities,” he said, adding that the arrest of the suspects will be made on the basis of evidence that includes documented proof and reports from the health department.
{{/usCountry}}Police said they were also gathering information on the couples who had visited the centre, and the agents who roped in women to become surrogates.
Dr Alka Singh, Gurugram chief medical officer, said that though they had sealed the centre after the raid, they did not cut its power supply to save the cryogenically frozen 84 embryos found there.
“Since the centre was running in the guise of an ultrasound clinic for the last one year, there was no separate supply for the equipment required for assisted reproduction. They were fed electricity internally from the room in which the two ultrasound machines were kept,” she said.
“Further course of action against the centre owner and the two doctors engaged there will be taken as per the direction of the government,” she said.
According to health department officials, there are 33 IVF centres operating in the city with a valid licence.
“They are licensed from the health department for carrying out assisted reproduction under the ambit of the law. Valid records, including donors’ and patients’, are maintained at these centres which were missing at the Sushant Lok Phase-I centre,” said Singh. Health department officials said they have intensified scrutiny of such centres.
The illegal centre, operating under the name Fertility Cure Centre, functioned in the guise of an ultrasound clinic from a five-storey building in Block B of Sushant Lok Phase 1, according to the FIR whose copy is with HT. It had allegedly been running for over a year, illegally extracting, processing, and storing gametes – sperm and ovum – without written consent from donors as mandatory per law, police said. According to police, the centre paid women from economically weaker backgrounds in Delhi and Uttar Pradesh up to ₹25,000 to donate healthy ova. It also charged couples between ₹12 lakh and ₹14 lakh for surrogacy procedures.
Sharma, the prime accused, has denied carrying out any illegal activity at the centre.