Tamil Nadu probe team meets victim’s family in ‘organ theft’ case

COIMBATORE/PALAKKAD: A team led by the Director of Medical Health Services and Rural Development, which was formed to inquire into the alleged organ theft at a hospital in Salem, conducted inquiries on Sunday with the Coimbatore Medical College Hospital Dean, B Ashokan, regarding treatment given to a  person, at the hospital.

The TN inquiry team on Sunday also visited the home of P Manikandan in Nellimedu, Palakkad, the road accident victim whose organs were allegedly illegally removed by the hospital in Salem.  The team comprising Joint Medical Director Malarvizhi, Coimbatore Medical College chief Venkatesh, Vigilance Dy SP Thomson Prakash and SP Kamalakannan spoke to Manikandan’s father Pechimuthu and brothers Mahesh and Manoj.

The team said it would visit Nellimedu again to collect evidence from those accompanying him in the car that met with the accident on May 16. Seven people were returning to Palakkad from Melmaruvathur near Chennai when the car they were in met with an accident near Salem. All seven people who were injured were initially treated at a government hospital. Two persons, A Manikandan (24) and P Manikandan (24), were shifted to a private hospital in Salem on May 18.

However, on May 24, the hospital declared the duo as brain-dead and reportedly sought `3 lakh as payment, as well as an ambulance fee for transporting them. The hospital management allegedly asked the kin of the youths to sign various forms. “The forms were approval forms to harvest the organs of one of the youth,” police sources said.