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Doctor among 10 held as Delhi Police bust ‘kidney racket that lured poor & homeless with cash’

The matter allegedly came to light when some of the accused were seen outside a Delhi hospital, offering money to homeless people. The hospital then informed the Hauz Khas police.

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New Delhi: The Delhi Police have busted a gang that was allegedly running a kidney transplant racket from Haryana’s Sonipat, targeting poor and homeless people in the national capital.

Ten people, including a doctor, have been arrested so far. The arrests were made on the basis of an FIR registered on 26 May at the Hauz Khas police station under IPC sections for cheating and criminal conspiracy etc.

So far, four victims — aged between 21 and 32 years — hailing from Assam, West Bengal, Gujarat and Kerala have been identified, South Delhi Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Benita Mary Jaiker told ThePrint.

One recipient had also been traced in Delhi, she added. 

For each transplant, the donor would be paid Rs 1-3 lakh, while the accused made Rs 25-30 lakh per kidney, police sources said.

The matter allegedly came to light when some of the accused were seen conducting a recce outside a Delhi hospital, offering money to homeless people. The hospital then informed the Hauz Khas police.

Police sources said that the accused doctor had set up a hospital in Sonipat’s Gohana, where the gang allegedly conducted the surgeries.

“The gang conducted over 15 kidney transplants in the last six months. We received information last month from a Delhi hospital that some men were luring the poor. Upon investigation, it was found that this was part of a kidney racket. They would pick these people up from outside the hospital and from near temples and gurdwaras,” a senior police officer who did not wish to be named told ThePrint.

The main accused has been identified as Kuldeep Ray Vishwakarma, an operation theatre (OT) technician.

The other accused include Sarvjeet Jailwal, 37, and Shailesh Patel, 23, who took the victims to the main accused, Md Latif, 24, who conducted pre-surgery tests on the victims at an imaging centre in Hauz Khas, and Bikas, 24, who provided accommodation and transportation to the victims at Gohana. 

Ranjit Gupta, 43, who took the victims to Gohana, Delhi-based Dr Sonu Rohilla, 37, who performed the kidney removal and transplant surgeries, Sourabh Mittal, an anaesthesiologist, OT technicians Kuldeep Ray, Om Prakash Sharma, 48, and Manoj Tiwari are also among the accused.


Also Read: Dedicated teams, cost, facilities — why pvt hospitals do over 75% of organ transplants in India


The modus operandi 

The gang would allegedly divide itself into groups, and each was assigned a different task.

“One group would go around hospitals, temples, gurdwaras and look for targets, after which they would take the victims to Sonipat,” a source in the Delhi Police told ThePrint.

“One group handled the finances. The accused also looked for people on Facebook, Whatsapp groups etc,” the source added. 

DCP Jaiker told ThePrint that they laid a trap for the gang after locating one of its victims. 

“Initially, one person was located and we found out that the person will be taken for pre-anaesthesia check-up by the gang members to a lab in Delhi. A trap was laid. One Pintu Yadav was located and he informed us that he was taken to the lab on the pretext of treatment for abdominal pain. He left after an argument broke out, when he found out that it was for kidney donation,” she added.

The police team then managed to find another victim — a native of Gujarat. “On enquiry, we found out that his kidney had already been taken by (main accused) Sarvjeet and the other gang members,” said DCP Jaiker.

“Raids were then conducted in Paschim Vihar, and it was found that three persons were taken there for illegal kidney transplantation. Some medical documents were also recovered from there,” the DCP further said.

According to the DCP, the gang would primarily target young men aged between 20 and 30 years who were in desperate need of money. “They have transplanted more than 20 kidneys till now,” she added.

(Edited by Gitanjali Das)


Also Read: What is draft anti-trafficking bill 2021 and how it is different from the 2018 bill


 

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