Another case of ovum trafficking has come to light, echoing an earlier episode that was quietly buried without prosecution under state protection.
During Sushila Karki’s tenure as prime minister, then-Attorney General Sabita Bhandari had decided not to pursue the ovum -trafficking case. The Hope Fertility and Research Centre, in which Bhandari herself had an investment, received a clean chit in that case.
Now a similar case of ovum trafficking has surfaced again.
A 17-year-old girl, a grade 11 student, has become a victim of an attempted ovum -trafficking scheme. According to the victim, she was first told by a friend that nothing would happen if she had her ovum extracted.
“My friend told me, ‘I’ve already given ovums two or three times myself. This is something that just goes to waste every month anyway. Nothing happens. And you get money too,'” the victim told Onlinekhabar.
After being told she’d get money and that nothing would happen to her, she says she agreed. She was then connected with an agent, who convinced her further.
After being lured with promises, the girl agreed.
“I was told nothing would happen, there’d be no pain, and it wouldn’t harm my body at all,” she says. According to her, she was then taken to B&B IVF in Gwarko, Lalitpur.
“First they gave me an injection. About a week to ten days later, the ovums were extracted,” the victim says.
The injections are used to stimulate ovum development, and once the ovums are mature, they are extracted. Initially, she was only given the injections.
Once the ovums had developed, they were extracted from her on June 28. After that, her body suddenly began to change. She became so weak she was at the point of collapsing.
After her health deteriorated, she told her family everything. She was then admitted to and treated at Tribhuvan University Teaching Hospital in Maharajgunj.
Ovum from other women is used to help infertile couples have children. The collected ovum is used to produce a child through IVF.
Although she was initially told she would receive Rs 50,000, she was only given Rs 30,000. The victim says that when her health worsened and she needed treatment, she instead ended up short of money.
After her health complications and subsequent treatment, the victim’s family filed a complaint with the police. They lodged the complaint at the District Police Range, Lalitpur. SP Gautam Mishra, spokesperson for the Range, confirmed that the complaint had been received.
“We have received the complaint. We are investigating the matter,” Mishra informed Onlinekhabar. Police have arrested one middleman in connection with the case and are investigating further. According to SP Gautam, the person arrested is 21-year-old Radhika Gotame, originally from Lamjung and currently residing in Lalitpur. She was arrested by police on July 17.
Police say the investigation against her is proceeding under human trafficking charges. However, the victim’s family has complained that police have not arrested the doctor involved in the ovum extraction.
“If the doctor who extracted the ovum is the main culprit, why hasn’t he been arrested yet?” the family asks.
Police, for their part, claim the investigation is ongoing and that those involved will be arrested.
“The victim has said the ovum was extracted at B&B. We are gathering all the evidence and investigating. Whoever is found involved or guilty will be arrested,” SP Gautam says.
Earlier, in June 2025, the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Police had arrested people involved in a similar ovum -trafficking case.
Investigators had found that ova were being trafficked through the Hope Fertility and Research Centre in Babarmahal and the Angel Fertility Clinic in Maharajgunj.
The investigation found that victims were given only Rs 8,000–10,000, while the ovum s were sold for as much as Rs 2 million.
After completing its investigation, the CIB recommended in Bhadra last year that seven people, including Dr Swasti Sharma, Pratyusha Baral, Asim Adhikari, Malini Chaudhary, Alisha Oli, and Justina Pradhan, be prosecuted under Section 66 of the Children’s Act, 2075.
However, then-Attorney General Bhandari decided in October 2025 not to pursue the case. Pratyusha, who had been recommended as a defendant, is Bhandari’s own daughter, and Swasti is also a family member.
After it came to light that ova were being illegally bought and sold, the government prepared new standards. To regulate infertility treatment (IVF) services, the government issued the Standards for Operating Infertility Management Services, 2082.
The ministry issued the standards under the authority granted by Section 64 of the Public Health Service Act, 2075, to give practical effect to the reproductive rights guaranteed by the constitution and bring uniformity to infertility treatment services.
Under the new standards, ovum donation must now follow set limits, confidentiality, and health-safety protocols. A woman may not donate ovum more than six times in her lifetime.
There must be a gap of at least three months between each donation. Donors must be between 20 and 35 years old, and must undergo physical examination and lab tests to confirm they are free of communicable diseases before donating.
Women donating ovum must be informed of the possible immediate and future health complications from the procedure, and informed consent is mandatory. In this case, however, a 17-year-old girl had her ovum extracted after being lured with false promises.
