ED raids IVF centres in Maharashtra

The Enforcement Directorate (ED)’s Mumbai Zonal Office-II raided 10 locations, including hospitals and IVF centres in Thane, Baramati, and Nashik, as part of an investigation into an organised network involved in illegal human egg extraction. ED teams conducted the raids under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, against the main accused, Manjusha Wankhede, and 16 others, accused of running the operation. The ED seized Rs 29 lakh in cash, froze bank lockers and mutual fund investments, and recovered documents and digital devices. The case began with an FIR and chargesheet filed by the Badlapur (East) Police Station in Thane. The accused were booked under sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 for cheating and forgery as well as violations of the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021 and the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

The ED’s investigation focuses on the racket’s money trail and the proceeds that flowed through agents and clinic operators.

Right at the heart of the case is a network that systematically targeted financially vulnerable women as egg donors. The agents would identify women in need of money and then route them to IVF centres and ART banks (all run by various proprietorship concerns) across Maharashtra and other states. The women were paid per cycle, and the agents took their cut from the clinics for each donor they supplied. The arrangement effectively turned egg donation into a commercial supply chain which operated entirely outside the legal framework. To keep the system going, they allegedly relied on forged and fabricated documents. Aadhaar cards, affidavits, consent forms, birth certificates, PAN cards, blood test reports, and insurance policies were created or altered to hide the donors’ real identities, allow the same women to donate multiple times, and make them appear medically fit when, in fact, they may not have been. By passing on these documents, they were able to circumvent the medical screening and identity verification requirements meant to protect donors from the risks of repeated procedures and ensure they were fit to donate.

The inquiry is still ongoing. The ED is examining the full financial trail, the role of the clinic operators who took the donors that came through the network, and the movement of the women across state lines. Further action under the money laundering law is to be taken once the attachment and prosecution are complete. It’s a case which brings together the organised commercial exploitation of the reproductive capacity of women with the use of forged ID to circumvent the regulatory regime which exists in India on assisted reproduction.

During the raids, ED teams found cash, froze the accused’s locker and mutual fund holdings, and took files and electronic devices that investigators believe have transaction records, donor lists, and communications between agents and clinics. The agency has also identified more donor agents and tracked down several properties and investments owned by people connected to the network. These assets are thought to be major proceeds from the illegal trade, the ED sources said.