Transplanted to India

At 6.35 pm on Saturday the kidney kingpin arrives at the Indira Gandhi International Airport from Kathmandu.

At 6.35 pm on Saturday, Air India flight IC-814 from Kathmandu touched down at the Indira Gandhi International Airport. One of the passengers was India's most wanted Amit Kumar, the key accused in the global illegal kidney transplant case. Throughout the flight, both of Kumar's hands were held tightly by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) officials.

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Nepalese authorities wanted to keep Kumar and press charges against him for possessing foreign currency beyond legal limits. But they were persuaded by the CBI officials to let him be taken to India, where he faced bigger, more serious charges. "We have handed him over to Interpol-India (CBI)," Upendra Kanta Aryal, SSP of Kathmandu Metropolitan Police Crime Division, told

Hindustan Times

on Saturday evening.

In Delhi, CBI director Vijay Shanker said the agency would not just get to the bottom of the racket, but also look at the systemic flaws and the possible remedies. "This is a case in which the CBI, during investigation, will look at the legal and procedural aspects of organ transplant." Sources said the bureau will produce Kumar before the court of a duty magistrate on Sunday and seek a 14-day remand.

Kumar stands charged with heading a racket in illegal kidney transplants. He and his associates duped or forced poor labourers into donating kidneys. The recipients included many foreigners.

Passengers in the flight from Kathmandu said Kumar "looked nervous and did not utter a word" during the 90-odd-minute flight. From the airport, Kumar was rushed to CBI headquarters, at the interrogation room of the Economic Offences Wing.