Delhi hospitals under lens in interstate kidney racket

KANPUR: A kidney and liver transplant racket straddling three states, with tentacles in top Delhi hospitals, was busted in Kanpur on Sunday with the arrest of six people. During interrogation, the six accused told police officials that they had facilitated 12 transplants. Names of some doctors and big hospitals in Delhi have surfaced in questioning and are being corroborated, said police officials.
The mastermind of racket, Amit Roy, belongs to Kolkata, and is on the run, while his aides were operating from Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Noida and New Delhi.The gang lured poor people by offering them money and got their kidney and liver excised for transplant after preparing their fake Voter IDs and Aadhaar cards. The gang gave just Rs 4 lakh to 5 lakh to donors while it charged Rs 25 to 30 lakh for kidney and Rs 70 lakh to 80 lakh for liver transplant, said police.
Kolkata mastermind is on run
“We came to know about the racket when a local overheard the gang members discussing a deal at a city restaurant and alerted us. We followed them and intercepted their phone calls and finally conducted raids near Neelam guest house and nabbed six people, all middlemen, on late Saturday night. Their interrogation is still under way,” said a senior police official.
“The mastermind Amit Roy hails from Kolkata and is on the run,” he added.
DGP O P Singh, said, “I am in touch with my counterparts in Delhi and West Bengal to ensure that the racket is fully unearthed and the kingpin is nabbed.”
The accused arrested were identified as Gaurav Mishra of Lakhimpur Kheri, T Rajkumar Rao of Kolkata, West Bengal, Shailesh Saxena of Badarpur, New Delhi, Saboor Ahmad of Kakori, Lucknow, Vicky Singh of Panki, Kanpur, and Shamshad Ali of Chowk, Lucknow.
SP (South) Raveena Tyagi, said, “During questioning, the middlemen revealed that they used to trap people who were extremely poor. The kidney and liver transplants were done at two famous hospitals in Delhi.”
“The middlemen revealed that till date they had trapped 12 donors. The donors were paid Rs 4 lakh to 5 lakh while the gang charged Rs 25 to 30 lakh for kidney and Rs 70 lakh to 80 lakh for liver,” the officer added.
“They used to prepare fake voter ID cards and Aadhar cards of donors. Several fake seals of government officials and bank passbooks were recovered from their possession,” said police.
“During investigation, it surfaced that the gang coordinated with select staffers at the two hospitals in Delhi,” the official added.
“Recently, a local businessman suffering from a kidney ailment had contacted a middlemen hailing from city, and underwent kidney transplant after paying a hefty sum,” said police. Investigation is on to unearth the racket’s international links if any, the official added.
According to police officials, names of several doctors also surfaced during interrogation and efforts are on to corroborate their involvement.