Kidney racket kingpin held, probe finds medical tests done in Delhi

DEHRADUN: Probe revealed that medical tests were carried out in Delhi before the ‘donors’ were whisked away to the Gangotri Private Hospital where the illegal kidney transplants began in July this year. the police said.

Dr Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of the organ racket, and his brother Dr Jeevan Kumar were among the three apprehended in Haryana. The two doctors and nurse Sarla (who assisted in the illegal surgeries) were late on Friday night arrested at Panchkula and was brought to Dehradun on Saturday.

The trio planned to flee to Nepal after the organ racket was busted on September 11. Another accused, identified as driver Billu, was arrested from Raiwala near Rishikesh.

Five people, including the middleman Javed Khan, have been arrested, so far. The kingpin’s son Dr Akshay, two others doctors, middleman Rajiv Chaudhary (who arranged for the hospital premises near Dehradun for the kingpin) and another accused are on the run.

The organ racket with inter-state and international ramifications had enticed at least four men - three from West Bengal and one from Gujarat - to undergo surgeries at the private hospital.

It was not the first time that Dr Amit Kumar had a brush with the law. He was the mastermind of the Gurugram kidney racket busted in 2008. The doctor had fled to Nepal, extradited and sentenced seven years in jail. But he had managed to a bail.

Dehradun senior superintendent of police (SSP) Nivedita Kukreti Kumar said a police team on Thursday raided the residence of Sahil Puri in Panchkula where the key accused were likely to be present, but it was found locked. “On September 15, acting on a tip-off and surveillance details, our team nabbed the two doctors and a nurse from two cars at a parking late on Friday night. We also found cash amounting to Rs 33.73 lakh in Dr Amit’s car and total six phones from the accused,” Kumar said at a press conference.

The accused told interrogators of starting illegal surgeries at the private hospital, around 30 km from Dehradun, in July.

The Dehradun police will now focus on detailed investigation to build a strong case against the accused. “Poor people were brought from faraway places for removing kidneys, which were later transplanted on patients. However, the key medical tests (required before the transplantation process) were done at laboratories in Delhi and not in the hospital. We will now look into that angle,” the SSP said.