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Delhi: 10 arrested in kidney transplant racket
Police said the gang had set up a medical unit in Sonipat district’s Guhana to conduct the transplant surgeries.
An illegal kidney transplant racket has been busted with the arrest of 10 people including a Delhi-based doctor, police said on Wednesday, and added that at least 12 illegal transplants have been conducted by members of the gang in the last six months.
Police said the gang had set up a medical unit in Sonipat district’s Guhana to conduct the transplant surgeries.
Investigators said that the gang members lured poor people to sell their kidneys for ₹3-4 lakh and sold the organs to rich receivers for ₹30-40 lakh.
They said the main conspirator in the case is an operation theatre technician who used to work in a Delhi hospital. A doctor involved in the racket also worked at the same hospital, the officers said.
They added that despite having no medical degree, the technician used to conduct surgeries on the donors. The racket ran in a very organised manner in which young men aged between 20 and 30 years who are in desperate need of money were scouted on social media websites. They were contacted by the gang and convinced to donate their kidneys in return for money, the investigating officers said.
Specific roles assigned
Explaining how the racket worked, deputy commissioner of police (south) Benita Mary Jaiker said accused Sarvjeet Jailwal (37) and Shailesh Patel (23) used to look for poor people on Facebook, contacted them and took them to Kuldeep Ray Vishvakarama alias KD (46), who has emerged as the main accused.
Despite being just a technician, Vishvakarma operated on the donors at a facility in Guhana, the DCP said.
She added that Mohammed Latif (24), who worked as a field boy in a medical imaging centre in Hauz Khas, used to help with carrying out essential tests of the victims. Another accused, Bikas (24) arranged accommodation and transportation for the donors, his accomplice Ranjit Gupta (43) used to keep donors at a house in Paschim Vihar before shifting them to Guhana.
The DCP said that Sonu Rohilla, a 37-year-old quack, is the owner of the medical facility at Guhana, where he transplanted kidneys along with Dr Sourabh Mittal (37), an anaesthesiologist and OT technicians Om Prakash Sharma (48) and Manoj Tiwari (36).
How police busted the racket
Investigators said that on May 26, information was received at Hauz Khas police station regarding an illegal kidney transplant racket operating in the area in poor and needy people were lured with money to sell their kidneys. Based on the information, a team was constituted and a trap was laid in Hauz Khas area.
An informer pointed out a person who was being taken to a lab for medical tests by some members of the racket, the officers said. “One Pintu Kumar Yadav was spotted coming out of an imaging centre and was questioned by the police. He told the police that he was taken to the lab on the pretext of treatment of treatment his abdominal pain but he realised that were actually going to take out his kidney,” DCP Jaiker said and added that a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Transplantation of Human Organs Act was registered.
Yadav told the police about Raghu Sharma, who had been targeted by the gang. The police found Sharma and through information provided by him nabbed Sarvjeet Jailwal.
Jailwal told the police that they had already taken Sharma’s kidney. His interrogation led the police to a flat in Paschim Vihar where they found Shailesh Patel with three prospective targets, Diwakar Sarkar, Ashwini Pandey, and Rizwan. “When the four were questioned, it was found that Patel used to scout for poor people who were in desperate need of money and brought them to flat from where they were taken to Guhana,” the DCP said.
The three people who were found at the flat said that they had already undergone medical tests. The police recovered relevant medical documents from the house, Jaiker said.
Jailwal and Patel were formally arrested after detailed questioning, she added.
The DCP said that the two accused told the police that they were paid ₹30,000-Rs40,000 for taking the prospective kidney sellers to Bikas and a doctor, who they did not name.
The accused also disclosed the names of testing centres, hospitals, and medical centres where the sold kidneys used to be transplanted. They also said that Bikas paid the organ sellers.
Next one to be arrested was Latif who used to arrange all required diagnostic tests without a doctor’s prescription since he worked with an imaging centre in Hauz Khas. Subsequently, Bikas and Ranjeet Gupta who used to provide lodging and transportation to the alleged donors were also arrested. .
The raid at Guhana
Having busted the Delhi operations of the gang, the police had gathered enough information about the illegal medical facility in Guhana.
A police team, along with forensic experts, raided an illegal hospital, where a person who identified himself as Dr Sonu Rohilla used to operate on the victims to take out their kidneys. Rohilla had no medical degree.
After he was arrested, Rohilla told the police that he used to conduct surgeries with the help of some experts who worked in reputed Delhi hospitals. On the information provided by him, the police arrested Dr Sourabh Mittal, an anaesthesiologist who worked with a Delhi hospital. The police also nabbed two qualified operation theatre technicians Om Prakash Sharma and Manoj Tiwari, who worked in another hospital in the national Capital, and helped Rohill in the surgeries.
Victims spotted
Investigators have said that found the contact details of all patients, and will contact them to build a watertight case against the 10 arrested men.
Four victims, who have been identified so far, are from West Bengal, Assam, Kerala and Gujarat. Other victims, police suspect, are those who were known to these men.
Police have also identified one beneficiary, who is a Delhi resident.
The questioning of the three men who were found at the Paschim Vihar flat will be further questioned, the officers said.
