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Kidney ‘trader’ spread wings till Punjab
Vinod Kumar (32), a school dropout arrested for his alleged involvement in over 30 cases of organ trade, reportedly ran the racket as far as Punjab, police said.
Vinod Kumar (32), a school dropout arrested for his alleged involvement in over 30 cases of organ trade, reportedly ran the racket as far as Punjab, police said.
Investigations by the police revealed he exploited rag pickers and drug addicts roaming outside temples and hospitals in the city. By illegally selling blood and organs, he made anywhere between Rs 1-1.5 lakh in a month, the police said. Kumar owns a house in Uttam Nagar.
He sold these kidneys to “people in need” and charged them lakhs of rupees, the police added. Four years ago, Kumar sold his own kidney for Rs 1 lakh.
The police seized several diaries from his possession and said that he had taken advance money from at least 10 people after promising them kidneys.
“He got information about these needy people from doctors and staff in hospitals which have dialysis facilities,” said a senior police officer on condition of anonymity. Two prominent hospitals in the city have also come under the scanner.
Kumar’s role surfaced when the police were probing a blood scam case at AIIMS and Safdarjung hospitals and arrested six men including a security guard, police said.
“While he paid between Rs 10,000-15,000 to the donors, he would sell them for as high as Rs 3 lakh. Kumar first started selling blood and gradually progressed to organ trade,” said the officer.
He recently approached the family of a 67-year-old woman suffering from kidney failure at Safdarjung Hospital.
“The woman’s family was unable to bear the expenses of dialysis. He approached her son and promised to arrange a kidney for Rs 2.5 lakh and took an advance of Rs 50,000,” said HGS Dhaliwal, DCP (south).
He started avoiding his calls and disappeared with the money. “To start with we have booked him in the cheating case also,”
The accused was produced in a city court on Saturday and has been sent to one day’ police remand.
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