SC dismisses kidney racket accused's bail plea

The Supreme Court has dismissed the bail plea of Jeewan Kumar Raut, an alleged close aide of illegal kidney transplant racket's main accused Amit Kumar.

The Supreme Court has dismissed the bail plea of Jeewan Kumar Raut, an alleged close aide of illegal kidney transplant racket's main accused Amit Kumar.

HT Image

The accused were arrested in February last year after the racket engaged in illegal transplant of kidney surfaced in Gurgaon, sparking nation-wide outrage.

A Bench of Justices S B Sinha and Ashok Kumar Ganguly rejected the plea by Raut that he was entitled to bail as CBI investigating the case did not file the charge sheet within the stipulated 90 days as prescribed under the CrPC.

The apex court said the requirements mandated under Section 167 (2) need not be complied with by CBI as the case against the accused was booked under the special "Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994" which had overriding powers over the CrPC provision.

The apex court said it is a well-settled principle of law that if a special statute lays down procedures, the ones laid down under the general statutes shall not be followed.

In this case, the accused were booked under the special law namely "Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1994" and CBI had filed a complaint against the accused persons as required under the said Act.