Officials of private hospitals in Kerala, Andhra summoned over Tamil Nadu embryo racket

Tamil Nadu Police have summoned officials of two private hospitals in Kerala and Andhra Pradesh in a case related to the forceful sale of embryos of a 16-year-old girl in Erode.

The girl's mother, her lover, and an agent are currently under judicial custody.

A police probe team have found that the girl was taken to various private fertility clinics and hospitals in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Andhra Pradesh to extract her embryo and to sell it in the market.

According to a charge sheet filed by the team, the victim's mother was the kingpin of the racket. She was separated from her husband and was in love with another person.

She then forced her daughter to get impregnated by this person and using the services of a woman agent, Malathi, the mother sold the girl's embryos five or six times.

The Erode police and Tamil Nadu health department conducted a probe after the girl complained that she was forced into sexual harassment and had to undergo the trauma after her mother put pressure on her.

Police found that the girl was taken to hospitals in Perundurai, Tiruchi, Erode, Hosur, and Salem and the investigation team has taken reports from these private hospitals and fertility clinics.

Based on the information from a private hospital at Perundurai, the police team has summoned the private hospital authorities of Thiruvananthapuram, and based on inputs from the private hospital at Hosur, the team summoned Tirupati hospital officials.

The officials of these private hospitals will be questioned this weekend and after this the police team will submit a detailed charge sheet, sources in the Erode police told IANS.

Police also said that the gang had admitted the girl to various hospitals in Tamil Nadu and neighboring states using fake Aadhar Cards as the records obtained from these hospitals cite that the girl was not a minor.

A team of Tamil Nadu health department led by Joint Director of Health Services, Dr. Viswanathan is also probing the medical angle in the case.

The medical team will also collect information from the private hospital authorities of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.