Mumbai airport arrests expose cross border illegal Egg donation racket

The arrest of two women at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport has exposed a Thane-based illegal egg donation and surrogacy racket with links to fertility clinics in India and abroad, police said.

Sahar police arrested Sunoti Belel (44), a resident of Kalyan, and Seema Vinzarat (29) of Thane after immigration officials flagged inconsistencies in Belel’s travel details upon her arrival from Bangkok on Friday afternoon. Vinzarat, who arrived on the same flight shortly after, was detained for questioning and later arrested.

According to the police, Belel, along with an absconding associate Sangita Bagul , allegedly ran an agency named Elite Care in Thane. The agency is accused of recruiting women, primarily unmarried and financially vulnerable, and supplying them as egg donors and surrogate mothers to fertility centres in India and overseas.

Investigators said the racket operated by illegally presenting unmarried women as married through forged documents, a requirement under Indian law for egg donation. Under the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act, 2021, only married women with at least one biological child are permitted to donate eggs, and commercial surrogacy is prohibited.

Police said the accused arranged international travel for donors under the guise of medical consultations and fertility tests. The women were allegedly paid significant sums for undergoing egg donation procedures at clinics in countries including Kenya, Kazakhstan and Thailand, where regulations are perceived to be less stringent.

During interrogation, Vinzarat told police she was first approached by Bagul in 2022 and subsequently sold her eggs at a hospital in Andheri. She claimed to have travelled abroad multiple times between 2024 and 2026 to undergo egg donation procedures facilitated by Belel and Bagul, falsely declaring her marital status as married in official documents. Some attempts were reportedly aborted due to medical reasons.

The case came to light when immigration officer Vaibhav Bhosale grew suspicious after Belel failed to provide satisfactory answers about the purpose of her Bangkok visit, prompting a detailed inquiry.

Police are now probing the extent of the network, including the number of women recruited, fertility clinics involved, and the financial transactions linked to the racket. Efforts are underway to trace Bagul and identify other agents and clinics connected to the operation.

“We are ascertaining the total number of women involved and examining whether similar rackets are operating across states,” a senior police official said.