Kidney racket: Gang flew donors to Sri Lanka for operations

Police suspect that the syndicate may have got kidney transplants in hospitals in Thailand, Singapore and Dubai as well

Crime branch officers probing Delhi’s kidney racket has found that many donors were flown to Sri Lanka by the accused and operated in a Colombo hospital.

The gang members in police custody.

Sources said the syndicate had links outside India. During interrogation of four arrested suspects — Jayant Sahoo, Sulekha Panda, Anoj Patra and Birju Paswan — it was found that many donors were especially flown to a hospital in Colombo, Sri Lanka, two years ago for an operation. A few were also taken through the sea route, sources said.

“The gang sent the patients to Colombo as they could not arrange a hospital here. This shows that they were operating internationally. The men revealed that they have a strong network across continents and in the past have used several hospitals for the donors,” a police source said.

Read: Cat-and-mouse chase on Delhi’s roads between woman cop and kidney racket mastermind

Police suspect that the syndicate may have got kidney transplants in hospitals in Thailand, Singapore and Dubai as well. “We will now write to the hospital in Sri Lanka to get details of the donors and details of more cases of organ donation at the hospital in the last few years,” an officer said.

One of the accused, Sulekha Panda, herself had got operated in Western hospital in Colombo and had sold her kidney for Rs 25 lakh.

Police on Friday had also rescued two men who were going to donate their kidneys. Rajendren from Orissa and Shehzad from Bihar had reached Delhi and were waiting for their operation when they were rescued. While Rajendren was to get Rs 4.5 lakh for his kidney, Shehzad was promised Rs 3.5 lakh.

Rajendren was rescued from a guest house in Hauz Rani and Shehzad from a Paharganj hotel. Rajendren told police that he had agreed to sell his kidney to arrange money for his sister’s wedding, Shehzad, who is unemployed, had a debt.

Rajendren claimed he was convinced because the accused men said they themselves had got similar operations done and that they were living a healthy lifestyle.

Shehzad on the other hand told police that he was contacted by a middlemen of the gang and he immediately agreed to sell the kidney as he was in dire need of money.

Sources said that the two men were ready for the operation and their fake documents had been prepared. “Shehzad was to get operated in Batra hospital while Rajendren was not allotted a hospital yet. Their documents were all ready. They racketeers again had managed to pass off these donors as close relatives of the organ recipients, after making their fake profiles and ID cards,” a senior police officer said.,

The police also found that the gang members used to give advertisements for organ donation in local newspapers and that is how they got in touch with their donors.

Police have seized several documents from Batra hospital premises and have also asked for details of previous organ transplant cases done at the hospital. Police said they would send a notice to Batra hospital to ask doctors and staffers to join the probe. When contacted, Batra Hospital denied any role in the racket, saying, “Batra Hospital conducts all renal transplants fairly and under strict supervision. All related and unrelated transplants are vetted by a committee. All the transplant act guidelines are followed. All documents checked.”

While the donors got between Rs 2 and Rs 5 lakh, the racketeers used to charge Rs 30-40 lakh from each kidney from the recipient.