MUMBAI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched a money laundering probe into an alleged illegal human egg extraction racket operating from a residential flat in Badlapur, with searches conducted at several premises in Thane, Nashik and Pune districts on Friday. Investigators suspect that nearly 40 financially vulnerable women were recruited for repeated egg-retrieval procedures and their eggs supplied to IVF centres and ART banks through a network of donor agents.
The ED is examining the financial transactions linked to the alleged operation. The police investigation has pointed to an organised network that allegedly recruited women facing financial hardship and supplied their eggs to IVF centres and ART banks through donor-supply agencies operating under different proprietorship concerns. The ED is now investigating the money trail linked to the alleged racket.
The racket was uncovered on February 19, 2026, when police found that Malti IVF Centre, registered in Nashik, was allegedly operating an unauthorised facility through its Thane branch without the required licences and approvals. Its probe is based on an FIR registered by Badlapur East police on February 20, 2026, following a complaint by the chief medical officer of Badlapur sub-district hospital about an alleged illegal IVF and assisted reproductive technology (ART) centre operating from a residential flat in Badlapur East. Police filed a chargesheet on May 18, 2026, naming 17 accused, including medical practitioners, donor agents, their associates and people allegedly involved in forging donor identities and medical documents.
The FIR includes charges of cheating and forgery under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023, as well as provisions of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The cheating and forgery offences cited in the FIR are scheduled offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, providing the basis for the ED’s investigation.
