Dr Amit 'kidney' Kumar baffles CBI

The intricate network of touts, middlemen and doctors created by kidney kingpin Dr Amit Kumar and his brother Jeevan Rawat has left the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) bewildered.

As Kumar opens up to his interrogators, the agency is getting ready for a rare insight into his mind and the racket he ran for nearly a decade.

Kumar, sources said, was 'ruthless' and 'brutal' when it came to dealing with 'donors'. "Though he has all along maintained that hundreds of desperate patients benefited from him, his 'dark' side is easily visible. His operations were run in the most cold-blooded manner. His main tools were 'fear' and 'threats' forcing victims to part with their kidneys," a senior official said.

The agency, sources said, could even book Kumar under sections of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. A combined team of the CBI and forensic experts, which raided the Gurgaon nursing home of the accused, said it was a state-of-the-art hospital equipped with possibly every medical equipment that one could think about to carry out a transplant at short notice.

The agency, sources said, would also look into how Kumar managed to import medical equipment. Sleuths are separately questioning Kumar and his associate Dr Upendra Kumar. "Once we have got their statements, they would be confronted to weed out contradictions that might emerge," the official said.

The agency, meanwhile, has intensified efforts to track down Jeevan, the subject of an Interpol Red Corner notice. It is also in direct touch with the Nepal police.

The Uttar Pradesh government on Tuesday issued a notification for transferring cases related to the kidney racket registered in Moradabad to the CBI. The notification has been sent to the Centre, which would now issue a notification for the transfer.

The CBI has also started to question Amit Kumar's international clients as they slowly start to track them. Two Greek nationals were summoned to CBI headquarters on Monday.