Fake Aadhaar cards used to repeat egg donors in Hyderabad racket

Hyderabad: In the latest development in the egg donation racket in Hyderabad, the Begumpet Police have found that fake Aadhaar cards were used to repeat the donors.

According to the police, Praveen, an accused arrested on November 10, used to create fake Aadhaar cards for the women, enabling them to donate eggs repeatedly and violating the law. The police seized 100 fake Aadhaar cards from Praveen.

According to the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation)Act 2021, women aged between 23 and 35 are eligible to donate eggs only once in their lifetime. However, the investigation found that several women donated eggs multiple times.

Praveen allegedly facilitated this with the help of ART centres and helped generate fake documents, including Aadhaar cards and birth certificates, to manipulate donor records and make ineligible women appear eligible.

“Some of the women rescued were found to have donated eggs twice or thrice in different cycles. An agent manipulated nearly 100 Aadhaar cards and birth certificates to ensure they stay within the prescribed age bracket,” said Malkajgiri Police Commissioner B Sumati.

The commissioner termed the racket a case of human trafficking, adding that the women, in need of money, were lured into it on the pretext of jobs.

Addressing the media, Sumati said, “Yet, we found that the 43 rescued women – from six different states – were being given only a portion of the money – between Rs 25,000 and Rs 50,000 – from the total amount collected from the egg seekers. It is the ART centre, fertility centre and agents who pocketed the majority of the earnings.

According to the police, each egg donation cycle costs more than Rs 3 lakh.

During the investigation, Malkajgiri Police found that one ART centre had conducted transactions worth Rs 2 crore over the past year through such alleged malpractices.

The police are still verifying donor records available with the ART centres, fertility centres and the health department to ascertain the extent of manipulation by agents.

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