By IANS,
Kolkata : The kingpin of a nationwide kidney racket was arrested Friday from a West Bengal village on the India-Bangladesh border, the police said here.
“We arrested Manick Chowdhury alias Partha, who was running a kidney racket, Friday morning from Daudpur village near the Indo-Bangladesh border,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Detective Department) Jawed Shamim told reporters here.
“Chowdhury used to supply kidneys to hospitals in Bangalore, Delhi and Chennai for the past two years. We are trying to find if they had tie-ups with Kolkata hospitals too,” he said.
The police have also arrested a woman, Anjana Pradhan, who too was involved in the racket, he said.
“So far, 12 people have been arrested in this racket,” Shamim said.
Chowdhury’s men would promise jobs to unemployed youth from across the state and get them admitted to a hospital here. Here they were asked to undergo medical tests for the job, the police said.
“If the kidneys were found healthy, Chowdhury used to convince or force the youths to sell one of their kidneys. They were offered Rs.80,000-Rs.150,000 depending on the condition of the organ,” a senior police official said.
The official said that Chowdhury would sell the kidney for Rs.400,000-Rs.500,000.
“Chowdhury has sold over 60 kidneys so far,” the police official said.
The kidney racket was exposed Feb 2 after a victim grew suspicious of the complicated tests being performed on him at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital in Salt Lake and lodged a complaint at a nearby police station.