The couple had fraudulently mentioned the name of a Malad-based hospital that would allegedly offer a hefty sum for her kidney; the hospital filed a police complaint
The couple has been remanded in police custody till January 20
The Malad police have arrested a Surat-based couple for cheating a woman of Rs 10,000 on the pretext of helping her sell her kidney for Rs 55 lakh. The couple was produced before the Borivli court on Wednesday and sent to police custody till January 20.
Victim approaches clinic
According to the police, the matter came to light in March last year when a woman approached Dr Rajesh Vasudev Kumar of Malad-based Apex Kidney Care Hospital and offered to sell her kidney for Rs 55 lakh. The woman, Deepali Waze, 24, who hails from Pune, told the doctor that she had already paid Rs 10,000 to a Gujarat-based facilitator, who promised to help her sell the organ. Concerned that someone was trying to tarnish the reputation of his clinic, Dr Kumar approached the Malad police station last week and filed a complaint in the matter.
An officer said, "An FIR has been registered in the matter under sections 420 (cheating) and 34 (common intention) of IPC. The woman was summoned for questioning." Speaking to mid-day, Dr Kumar said, "In the past one year, many people approached us saying that they had registered their names online for kidney donations and had also deposited money as registration fees. About 15 people from Karnataka, Gujarat and other states contacted us during this time. They were told that the clinic would give them hefty sums for each kidney. When more and more people started approaching us, I registered a complaint with the police."
Accused traced to Gujarat
Police said that during investigation Waze mentioned that she paid Rs 10,000 to the facilitator Rachana, with whom she had struck a deal to sell the organ. During investigation the cops traced Rachana’s number to Kumbharwada in Bhavnagar, Gujarat. Whenever they tried to call the number, it was switched off, following which they retrieved the call data records from the service provider. Scrutiny of the records revealed that someone from Surat had made several calls to the number. The cops immediately rushed a team to Surat where they found Vijay Dodhriya, 31, to be using it.
On being questioned, Dodhriya said that his wife, whose real name is Riya, was using the number from which calls were made to Waze. Thereafter, the cops rushed to Bhavnagar and arrested Riya.
