By IANS
Gurgaon/New Delhi/Moradabad : Four persons, including a nurse, two cooks and a driver working with the two quacks who ran an illegal kidney transplant racket for almost a decade were arrested Thursday even as the kingpins still eluded the police dragnet that fanned out to several Indian states.
With this the total number of arrests in a racket that had global ramifications, with desperate patients requiring urgent kidney transplants coming as far as from the United States, Britain, Greece and Saudi Arabia, have risen to 11.
“We have arrested four people identified as Linda, Harpal, Ramesh and Suresh from Delhi’s Mahipalpur area for their involvement in the kidney scam,” Joint Commissioner of Gurgaon Police Mahender Singh Ahlawat said.
“Linda, a Manipur resident and nursing attendant with the Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, had links with kingpin Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut since 2006 and was assisting him in kidney transplants,” Ahlawat told reporters.
All the arrested, including the driver and cooks, have been sent to two-day police remand.
Ahlawat said: “Linda in her interrogations revealed that Amit, his brother Jeewan and Saraj Kumar used to perform the surgeries, while doctor Upendra used to take care of patients post-operations.
“The joint interrogations of all the arrested people also revealed that they used to carry out around 50-60 kidney transplants each year,” the top cop said.
Police Thursday continued searches at several premises allegedly owned and used by Amit, who some officials believe might have escaped abroad, probably to Canada.
Police sources said besides Delhi, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, the well-oiled network behind the scam had spread its tentacles in Jammu Kashmir and Goa.
Among the countries from where patients came for kidney transplants included Saudi Arabia, the US, Britain, Greece, Canada and Lebanon, police said.
The kidney racket was busted Friday in Gurgaon, an emerging IT hub on the outskirts of the national capital, after the Uttar Pradesh and Haryana police swooped down on two properties – in Sector-23 Palam Vihar and in DLF area – owned by Amit.
Five people including Upendra were arrested then but Amit, Jeewan and Saraj managed to flee just before the police raid, allegedly following a tip-off.
At the heart of the mind-boggling racket was Amit, who allegedly carried out hundreds of kidney transplants along with fellow doctors that included his brother, cashing in on the huge demand-supply gap for this vital body organ.
What was especially shocking was that the two, who called themselves doctors, had degrees in Ayurveda, the traditional Indian herb-based system of medicine, but none was a qualified surgeon.
Using persuasion, trickery and threats, occasionally at gunpoint, they forced poor patients as well as labourers to part with one of their kidneys for a pittance, which were then sold off to wealthy clients from India and abroad at huge profits.
According to police, the doctors had carried out at least 600 illegal kidney transplants over the last nine years.
Jeewan’s wife Puja and Amit’s driver Umesh were arrested Wednesday for the involvement in the scam.
The Moradabad police Thursday took Upendra to Delhi and conducted searches in some prestigious hospitals and labs.
“An investigation team was sent to the Indraprastha Apollo and the Batra hospitals. It was found that tests related to kidney transplant were conducted there, but there is no evidence of their involvement yet,” Senior Superintendent of Moradabad police Prem Prakash said.
“Records are being verified about their possible involvement in the scam,” Prakash added.
Meanwhile, the Indraprastha Apollo said in a statement: “We would like to clarify that no police raid has been conducted regarding this case and the hospital is willing to extend all help necessary to the police with regards to this case.
“As a responsible healthcare provider we maintain the highest level of excellence in our healthcare delivery and would like to reassure our patients of the level of treatment rendered across all specialties is comparable to the best in the world,” it added.