Surrogacy Scandal Unveiled: Illegal Egg Donation Ring Busted in Mumbai

Two women have been arrested at the Mumbai airport over an alleged illegal egg donation and surrogacy ring. The operation involved unmarried women presented as married through forged documents, a violation of Indian law. Authorities are investigating the extent of the network's operations.

Two women have been apprehended at Mumbai's international airport amid allegations of a complex illegal egg donation and surrogacy racket. The arrests follow investigations by immigration officials into suspicious activities involving unmarried women allegedly presented as married through forged documents, contravening Indian legal standards.

The accused, Sunoti Belel, aged 44, is claimed to have orchestrated the operation by supplying women as egg donors to fertility centres both domestically and internationally. Belel was intercepted shortly after arriving from Bangkok, and another suspect, Seema Vinzarat, 29, was apprehended within the same timeframe, also returning from Bangkok.

Interrogations revealed Vinzarat's involvement as an egg donor, allegedly for substantial financial reward. Authorities discovered that Belel and an accomplice, now at large, ran an agency facilitating these illegal surrogacy services. This operation directly violates India's Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, which stipulates that egg donors must be married with at least one child and prohibits commercial surrogacy.

(With inputs from agencies.)