By IANS
Gurgaon : Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut and his brother Jeewan, the absconding kingpins of the multi-million-rupee kidney transplant racket, were picked and let off by Delhi Police last month, a top police official revealed Monday.
“Harpal, Amit Kumar’s driver who was arrested last week, in his interrogation revealed that sleuths of Delhi Police picked up the duo 20-25 days ago and whisked them to Connaught Place area. They later let them go,” Gurgaon Police Commissioner Mahender Lal said.
“We have asked Delhi Police to inquire into it,” Lal told reporters.
Gurgaon police sources said Amit and Jeewan were let off – reportedly after three inspectors and a constable extorted a large amount from them.
Harpal also revealed that Delhi Police officials had thrice taken bribes from Amit and Jeewan in the past, which suggests they were aware of the thriving racket but did not bother to inform the Gurgaon police, the sources said.
Delhi Police arrested the brothers after registering a case of an illegal organ transplant at the Nizammudin police station in 2001. The duo, however, was released on bail.
The Delhi Police spokesman could not be reached despite repeated attempts.
Lal said the Gurgaon police were also investigating the suspicious deaths of three Turkish nationals at the Ballabgarh nursing home of Upendra, another accomplice who was arrested Jan 24 from a hotel in Faridabad.
The clandestine racket of illegal kidney transplants, which served international clients from Britain, the US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Dubai, was busted by the police forces of Haryana and Uttar Pradesh Jan 24 in Gurgaon, an emerging IT hub on the outskirts of the Indian capital.
The Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police have continued searches at possible hideouts of Amit and other accused in Delhi, Gurgaon, Jaipur and Jammu and Kashmir.
According to police, Amit and other quacks in his group had performed at least 600 illicit kidney transplants over the past decade for profits running into billions of rupees.
Meanwhile, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a probe into the racket following a formal request from the Haryana government.