ED seizes Rs 29 lakh, freezes lockers in Maharashtra egg extraction racket case

NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday said it had seized Rs 29 lakh in cash and frozen multiple bank lockers and mutual fund investments following multi-city raids in a money laundering investigation linked to an alleged illegal human egg extraction racket in Maharashtra.

The case pertains to an "organised network" involved in recruiting financially vulnerable women for human egg donation and supplying them to various IVF (In Vitro Fertilisation) centres and Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) banks through donor-supply agents operating under different proprietorships.

The women were allegedly recruited in exchange for monetary compensation paid through agents by IVF centres and ART banks. The agents also received commissions on such activities, the ED alleged.

The central agency carried out raids at some hospitals and IVF centres in Thane, Baramati and Nashik districts of the state on October 16.

The ED's case, registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), stems from a Thane Police FIR and chargesheet that alleged cheating and forgery apart from violations of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act by a woman named Manjusha Wankhede and 16 others.

The agency suspects that forged documents like Aadhaar cards, affidavits, consent letters, birth certificates, PAN cards, blood-test reports and insurance papers were used to conceal the identities of donors, facilitate repeat egg donations and falsely establish their medical fitness.

"The women were allegedly sent to various establishments in Maharashtra and other states for human egg retrieval, thereby exposing them to potential medical risks and circumventing prescribed medical safeguards," it said.

Cash worth Rs 29 lakh was seized while bank lockers and mutual fund investments were frozen during the searches, it said, adding that new donor agents were also identified.