A woman hired as a surrogate by a childless couple allegedly fled when she was 25 weeks pregnant.

The woman was tracked down and arrested after the couple lodged a complaint with police but the foetus had allegedly been damaged and removed by then.

The couple had entered into a contract with the woman through an infertility clinic and agreed to pay Rs 8 lakh as surrogacy fee, police said.

“After payment of Rs 3.75 lakh, the couple’s zygote was inserted into the woman’s womb in July. They were in touch with the woman and were bearing all her expenses besides the surrogacy fee. However, she fled from the house where she was staying,” an officer of New Alipore police station said.

The woman has been charged with cheating and criminal breach of trust.

Based on the couple’s complaint, officers of New Alipore police station started looking for the woman in her village at Lakshmikantapur in Mathurapur, South 24-Parganas.

Her phone was switched off, but investigators managed to get an alternative number and found her at SSKM Hospital on February 20.

The woman told the police that the foetus was damaged after she had a fall.

But the police found out that she had gone to a nursing home at Mandirbazar in South 24-Parganas with her mother and got rid of the foetus.

The nursing home officials told the police that the woman had been bleeding and the foetus already dead and so had to be removed.

A senior officer said there was no way to verify the woman’s version.

“But since she had fled even after taking the money, we started a case under sections of cheating and criminal breach of trust,” the officer said.