Lured by job offer, woman tricked into donating eggs

COIMBATORE: A 26-year-old daily wage labourer, from

Pappampatti Pirivu

, has filed a police complaint stating that she was taken to Kerala by two female agents on the promise of a job but instead she was tricked into donating her eggs.

She had been promised a job in the kitchen of a wedding hall near Azhuva for Rs1,000 per day. It was all a scam. She realized she had been duped only after she had been administered five hormone injections.

Radha Pandian

had moved to Coimbatore from Mysore after marrying K Pandian, also a daily wage labourer, who resided in a rented house in

Kavundampalayam

. She had been working at a local restaurant on

Arts College Road

for more than a year, but quit because her transport costs were becoming high. “I became a daily wager but was unable to get work daily. Money became tight,” said Pandian.

“That was when my landlord Jeeva, who also lived in a two-room house nearby, told me about working in the kitchen of a wedding hall. She told me they would pay Rs1000 a day,” she added.

On November 12, the couple was met by two agents, Gomathi and Thamilselvi and Radha boarded a train. Seven more women joined them at Erode and Tirupur. “At the Azhuva station, a woman named Thamilselvi welcomed us, and put us up in a lodge in Muvattupuzha,” said Radha. “When I asked about the wedding hall job, a couple of women told me I had gotten the job profile wrong. We were here to take care of old people for a high salary,” she said.

Radha became suspicious when she was taken to a local hospital in the area, according to the police complaint. “They gave me injections, took my blood and some scans for two days. When I asked them why I needed so many injections and tests, they claimed it was to test me for infections so that I don’t pass them on to my clients,” she said. “On November 17, I overheard the nurse tell the doctor that I had not produced any eggs,” she added. She immediately realised she had been duped. When she questioned the doctor, she was asked to leave immediately.

Radha contacted her husband immediately and summoned him to Kerala. When she tried to leave the lodge, she was beaten by the other women.

The hospital admitted that they do have an

egg

bank but say they do not encourage agents anymore. “We have no records of eggs as such taken from this patient, but since we have had issues with agents before we now accept egg donations only from women who we get through word of mouth,” said one of the hospital managers.

Thudiyalur police inspector Vetriselvan said they are investigating the matter. “The complaint has been registered, but her neighbor Jeeva has another story. While she said Radha agreed to go to Kerala for infertility treatment and the injections were part of it, she was upset about not being given a job,” he said.

The two agents, Gomathi and Thamilselvi are absconding. The police are on the lookout for them.