Kidney sale kingpin doctor’s wife caught in abortion racket

Faridabad police have arrested three people, including a general physician, for performing illegal abortions at a hospital in the city, officers said on Tuesday, unravelling a case linked to the infamous 2007 kidney racket

Faridabad police have arrested three people, including a general physician, for performing illegal abortions at a hospital in the city, officers said on Tuesday, unravelling a case linked to the infamous 2007 kidney racket.

Kidney sale kingpin doctor’s wife caught in abortion racket

The arrested general physician Dr Archana Rastogi, police officers said, is the wife of Dr Upender Dublish, one of the main accused in the 2007 case.

Dr Rastogi was allegedly performing the procedures under her maiden name, Dr Archana Rani, officials said, adding that her son, Dr Utkarsh Rastogi, was also aiding her in the operation. The son has absconded and a search for him is on, the officials said.

Following a tip-off, officials from the Faridabad health department along with a police team raided Samrat Hospital in Ballabhgarh on Sunday evening.

“A woman approached the health department saying the accused were conducting illegal abortions. When the officials sent the woman to the hospital, Archana told her that they charge ₹15,000. She paid ₹3,000 as an advance after which Utkarsh asked her to return for the procedure on Sunday,” Faridabad deputy commissioner of police Narender Kadiyan said.

On Sunday, the woman returned for the abortion at 4pm, Kadiyan said. “Soon after the abortion was done, the woman signalled the team, following which a raid was conducted and three people, including the doctor, were taken into custody,” he said.

Utkarsh Rastogi took the balance amount of ₹12,000 and left the hospital before the procedure, the DCP added.

The Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act only allows abortion till 24 weeks. Section 3(2B) of the MTP Act says that termination of pregnancy, beyond 24 weeks, can be permitted only if the said termination is necessitated by the diagnosis of “substantial foetal abnormalities”.

For investigators, the case has brought back memories of the kidney racket that shocked the National Capital Region, with ripples crossing the international borders.

The deaths of three Turkish nationals, aged between 55 and 65, during kidney transplant procedures between 2003 and 2005, led police officials to a clinic run by Dr Amit Kumar in Gurugram’s Sector 23. These were misrepresented as natural deaths following cardiac arrests.

During investigation in 2007, it was found that Kumar, with Dr Upendra Dublish as his main accomplice, conducted over 600 kidney transplants between 2005 and 2007. The two would use kidneys sourced from poor people in Uttar Pradesh and transplant them into clients from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Greece.

In 2013, a CBI court sentenced Dr Upendra Dublish to seven years in jail and imposed fine of ₹60 lakh.

In September 2017, police busted an organ transplant racket run from Gangotri Charitable Hospital at Lal Tappad in Doiwala, around 30km from Dehradun, which was being run by Kumar with his brother, Jeevan Kumar. Amit Kumar has been in jail since his arrest from Panchkula in Haryana.

Giving details of the Faridabad case, officials said Dr Rastogi failed to produce the relevant documents while in police custody.

“She could only provide a copy of her MBBS degree,” Dr Man Singh, deputy civil surgeon of Faridabad health department, said.

“Only a certified gynecologist can perform abortions at clinics or hospitals that have facilities for blood tranfusions,” Singh said, explaining the provisions of the MTP Act, which states that abortions should only be performed by medical doctors (with specified specialised).

“The hospital had no provisions to deal with any emergency or excessive bleeding in a patient,” Singh said.

While Dr Archana Rastogi studied MBBS at a college in Gwalior, her son, Utkarsh, studied at Kuban Medical University in Krasnodar, Russia, between 2006 and 2012, officers said.

Interestingly, Samrat Hospital, earlier known as Shri Ram Hospital, is the same facility where Dublish treated patients after kidney transplants.

“This hospital was already under the scanner due to the involvement of its owners in the 2007 case. This is the same hospital that used to admit patients post surgeries in illegal kidney transplant cases but they have changed the name to Samrat Hospital,” Dr Singh said. The building is owned by Dublish.

A case under sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act, Section 18A of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, and Section 315 (Act done with intent to prevent child being born alive or to cause it to die after birth) of the Indian Penal Code has been filed against the four accused at Sector 58 police station in Faridabad, officials said.

The three arrested accused, including two helpers Om Prakash and Meenakshi, were produced before the Faridabad district court on Monday which sent them to 14 days’ judicial custody, officials said.

Denying complicity, Dublish on Tuesday said that he has been out of town for the last two months. “I have been at a relative’s place due to a death in the family. I live with my wife in Ballabhgarh but the building is no longer a hospital and has been rented out. My son, who is also a doctor, lives in Delhi with his wife,” he told HT.

“Someone has tried to frame us. We do not practise anymore and there is no medical facility available in the building. My wife and son are innocent,” he said.

“I was jailed in 2008 and completed my term and came out in February 2014, and since then have been lying low ,” he said. Dublish came out of jail in 2014.