By IANS
New Delhi : Amit Kumar, the mastermind behind a large-scale illegal kidney transplant racket, had political links, police said Saturday on the basis of the confession made by a key accomplice.
The Moradabad police said Upendra Kumar Aggarwal, an accomplice of Amit, revealed that a politician from Haryana had inaugurated Amit’s Gurgaon hospital Jan 26, 1997.
In his statement to police, Upendra also claimed that Amit alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut had links with an MP from Haryana, who purportedly bailed him out when his illegal trade came under the scanner of Income Tax sleuths in 2000.
The Moradabad police confirmed the figuring of several big names in Upendra’s revelations.
“We have given the names of several VIPs and bureaucrats as revealed by Upendra but we cannot disclose the names unless verified,” Assistant Superintendent of Police Manzil Saini told IANS.
Upendra, the key accused to be arrested in the case after the multi-crore racket was exposed last week, also confirmed that the absconding mastermind of the racket had got threatening calls from gangster Chhota Shakeel.
He claimed that Amit, dubbed as “doctor horror”, had also filed a complaint in this regard at the Connaught Place police station.
Moradabad Senior Superintendent of Police Prem Prakash said, “Amit Kumar had also acted in several C-grade films and had even produced several of them.
“Upendra has revealed that Amit had also invested in various hospitals in Europe and Saudi Arabia. But he did not name the hospitals.”
Prakash added that most of the teams of the Moradabad police, sent to Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan to nab Amit, had returned though several teams were still at work in Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi.
Saini said, “The names of five doctors have come up during the investigations and we have conducted raids at several places in Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi. Out of these five, Upendra and K.K. Aggarwal have been arrested, whereas three others are still absconding.”
The Moradabad police Friday arrested K.K. Aggarwal from Alwar in Rajasthan following disclosures made by Upendra.
A Gurgaon court Saturday sent nurse Linda, employed with the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital who allegedly assisted Amit in surgeries, the doctor’s cooks Ramesh and Suresh and his driver Harpal to 14 days of judicial custody.
Early Saturday, the Gurgaon police nabbed one more nurse, Rebecca, an alleged accomplice of Amit. She used to look after patients at his Gurgaon clinic where the illegal transplants were carried out.
Police sources said Rebecca, hailing from Assam, had stopped working for Amit and was now employed with a hospital in Faridabad, though they did not disclose the name of the hospital.
“It is too early to disclose such details,” a police official said, requesting anonymity.
Amit had employed Rebecca two years back at the Gurgaon clinic. Rebecca used to take care of patients at the intensive care unit of the clinic where the illegal transplants were done, police said.
During her nearly two-month stint with Amit, Rebecca allegedly witnessed five kidney transplants on three foreign and two Indian nationals. “She later left Amit and joined a hospital in Faridabad,” a police source told IANS.
Rebecca’s revelations will help police form a strong case to nail Amit.
On Friday, Interpol issued red corner notices for Amit and his brother Jeewan Raut for running the racket that has international links.
Amit, 40, is suspected to have escaped to Canada through Nepal. His family has been living in Canada.