E-Paper
Two docs sentenced to 10-year jail in 2002 Amritsar kidney racket
At one point of time, there were 32 accused in the case, with mediators and touts really making a killing by taking our organs from the poor at a low rate, in some cases by not informing them
Amritsar The court of additional district and sessions judge Darbari Lal on Tuesday awarded ten-year rigorous imprisonment to two doctors in the Amritsar kidney racket of 2002, besides imposing a fine of ₹35,000.
In 2002, it came to light that a trade in human organs was on in Amritsar. Poor and innocent persons were induced into parting with their kidneys for a pittance, and was transplanted or sold to rich patients at a hefty profit. Doctors, in connivance with mediators and touts was running the scam, it was alleged.
In 2003, Mulkh Raj Goel, whose kidneys had failed, contacted ‘Kakkar Hospital’ at Amritsar, where a deal was stuck for providing a kidney to him for ₹2.5 lakh of a donor, Sudesh Kumar, a labourer. The transplant was done, but Kumar was allegedly not provided post-extraction treatment, leading to his death.
The convicts, Dr Bhushan Aggarwal and Dr Bhupinder Singh, were booked in Amritsar in two separate cases registered in 2002 and 2003, respectively. Over two dozen persons were also made the accused.
Special public prosecutor Rajesh Salwan said, “Both the accused were awarded 10-year punishment under Section 304 Part-2 (culpable homicide) of the (IPC) which was invoked during the investigation of the 2003 FIR. The judge has also imposed ₹20,000 fine in this case.”
He added that both the accused have been given 5-year imprisonment under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Sections 18-19-20 of the The Indian Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOA) invoked in the 2002 FIR. The 2003 FIR was registered during the investigation of the 2002 FIR.
Salwan said 36 persons were made accused. “Some of them have died while some were declared proclaimed offenders. The trial ran against eight accused and six of them have been acquitted,” he said.
Among the accused was also Gurdial Ram, personal security officer (PSO) of a then IG. Ram later died. The middlemen in the scam would look for vulnerable persons at public places. They would identify those from the economically weaker sections of society and in need of money. At time, they were abducted, intimidated and even confined till the suitable time for kidney transplant. Depending upon the profile of recipient, an amount ranging between ₹5 lakh and ₹18 lakh was charged.
