THANE (Wednesday, March 4, 2026) — Thane Police have made a significant breakthrough in an inter-state female egg smuggling racket with the arrest of Dr. Amol Patil, a dentist from Nashik. Dr. Patil, who operates the Malti IVF Center in the Mumbai Naka area of Nashik, is accused of facilitating illegal surrogate mother contracts and unauthorized egg extractions at a facility officially registered in his wife’s name.
The Modus Operandi
The racket targeted financially vulnerable women from areas like Badlapur, Ulhasnagar, and Thane, luring them with payments of ₹25,000 to ₹30,000 per cycle.
- Identity Forgery: The gang used fake Aadhaar cards to register a single woman under multiple identities. This allowed them to bypass the legal limit set by the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) Act, which restricts egg donation to only once in a lifetime.
- Medical Exploitation: Reports suggest that over 500 women may have been exploited. In some extreme cases, a single woman was allegedly forced to undergo egg retrieval as many as 33 times, posing severe long-term health risks.
- Commercialization: While donors received a small sum, the extracted eggs were reportedly sold to wealthy recipients for lakhs of rupees.
Police Action and Seizures
With Dr. Patil’s arrest, the total number of individuals in custody has risen to six. He has been remanded to police custody until March 9, 2026.
- Raids: Police teams led by DCP Sachin Gore (Ulhasnagar) have seized medicines and hormonal injections worth over ₹15 lakh from residential premises used by the gang.
- Digital Evidence: Authorities discovered photos of hundreds of women, fake sonography reports, and fraudulent affidavits on the mobile phones of the arrested accused.
- The “Mastermind”: While six have been caught, police are currently conducting raids across Maharashtra to apprehend the primary mastermind behind the operation.
Legislative and Health Response
The case has sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Legislative Council, leading to immediate government intervention:
- District-Level Panels: The state has ordered the formation of committees (comprising the SP and Civil Surgeon) to inspect all 860 IVF centers in Maharashtra.
- Registration Cancellation: Deputy Chairperson Neelam Gorhe has directed that the medical registrations of the involved doctors be formally cancelled through the Indian Medical Council.
- MCOCA: The state government is considering invoking the Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) given the scale and organized nature of the racket.
Key Accused in Custody
The following individuals are currently under investigation:
- Dr. Amol Patil (Director, Malti IVF Center)
- Sulakshana Gadekar (Alleged recruiter/agent)
- Ashwini Chabukswar
- Manjusha Wankhede
- Sonal Garewal
- Sumit Sonkamble
Sources
- Press Trust of India (PTI): “Female egg smuggling racket: Dentist held for using Nashik IVF facility” (March 4, 2026)
- The Times of India: “Badlapur egg extraction racket: Nashik doctor arrested; Council orders crackdown” (March 5, 2026)
- The Hindu: “Maharashtra Health Minister promises strict action in Thane egg-donation racket” (February 23, 2026)
- ABP Majha: “Badlapur Uterine Eggs Selling Racket: Director of Malti IVF Center arrested” (March 4, 2026)
- Hindustan Times: “Investigation reveals fake Aadhaar cards used in interstate egg smuggling” (March 4, 2026)
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