Transferred in the middle of an inquiry into a kidney scam, additional deputy commissioner of police (investigation) J Elanchezhian (34) is back in the city and back on the case on the deputy chief minister's directive.
He also remains part of the special investigation team (SIT) with deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Sandeep Kumar Sharma, ADCP (headquarters) Alka Meena, ADCP-2 Amrik Singh Powar and station house officer (SHO) Navdeep Singh. For settling the controversy triggered by the transfer of the upright officer, Elanchezhian was on Monday deputed as ADCP attached with the Jalandhar police commissioner. He will continue to assist the teams going after Jalandhar's National Kidney Hospital owners Dr Rajesh Aggarwal and his wife, Deepa Aggarwal.
He can't be removed from the case till the inquiry is complete, deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal has clarified. Elanchezhian's replacement Vivek Sheel Soni, joined as new member of the SIT in the morning.
The SIT had booked the doctor couple under Sections 18 (punishment for removing human organ without authority), 19 (Punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) and 20 (punishment for contravention of any other provision) of the Transplantation of Human Organs (Amendment) Act, 1994. The doctor couple is on the run since September 3 when a local court denied it anticipatory bail. On September 5, the SIT had met to plan the couple's arrest. By the time the meeting ended, Elanchezhian's transfer orders had come and he was not given any new posting.
The 2010-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer had joined here on August 25 last year and been doing good work to solve the kidney racket case. On Monday, police teams were sent to Himachal Pradesh, Kanpur and Delhi to verify the authenticity of the documents that the donors and the recipients had attached with the kidney transplants files. SIT spokesperson Alka Meena said the police had identified some possible hideouts of the accused. Earlier, Elanchezhian used to brief the media.
The 2010-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer had joined here on August 25 last year and been doing good work to solve the kidney racket case. On Monday, police teams were sent to Himachal Pradesh, Kanpur and Delhi to verify the authenticity of the documents that the donors and the recipients had attached with the kidney transplants files. SIT spokesperson Alka Meena said the police had identified some possible hideouts of the accused. Earlier, Elanchezhian used to brief the media.
Police sources said that in the course of the investigation, differences had appeared among certain officers. When a report from the director of medical education and research (DMER) came out on August 28 to reveal serious violations, Elanchezhian wanted to book Dr Aggarwal and his wife under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, but senior officers reportedly didn't let him. A day after, a meeting was called; and on August 31, the doctor couple booked under pressure from higher officers in Chandigarh.
When the court denied the Aggarwals bail on September 3, Elanchezhian wanted to arrest them immediately, but senior officers dragged their feet on the pretext that they needed a copy of the order, which gave the accused a chance to flee.