registered at Sarita Vihar police station and the accused are being interrogated to find out the role of hospital staff.
Praveen Kumar (New Delhi)
The Delhi Police has busted a kidney trade racket in the national capital with the arrest of five persons, including two personal assistants of a senior nephrologist at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. The police were tipped off about the gang’s presence in the hospital.As per the police, middlemen Aseem Sikdar(37), Satya Prakash (30), and Devashish Moulik (30) arranged for suitable donors after Aditya Singh (24) and Shailesh Saxena (31),who worked as as personal assistants of a senior nephrologist in the hospital. While the donors got only 3-4lakhs as compensation, the kidneys were sold at 25-30 lakhs to wealthyrecipients. The middlemen made a cut of 1-2 lakhs per deal. According to police sources, the gang used tolure poor people from various states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to donate their kidneys for a sum of Rs 2-3 lakh each in Delhi, while the recipients were asked to pay Rs 25-30 lakh. The nephrologist’s PAs and touts received Rs50,000 each. The operations were conducted at Apollo Hospital. Organ transplant rules mandate detailed documentation and their verification.
We are cooperating and providing all information required to help the police in their investigation pertaining tothe alleged kidney sale racket,” said a press statement by Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. Police was working on information about the gang that was actively involved in illegal trade of human organs. It was learnt during investigation that the gang members used to prepare forged papers to establish the relationship between the donors and the recipients and the staff of Apollo were also involved in this racket.
Apollo Hospital
A case under different sections on IPCand Transplant of Human Organ Act (THOA) has been registered at Sarita Vihar Policestation in connection with the kidney racket. The arrest of the five accusedhas also led to recovery of fake id proofs such as voter cards and Aadhaar cards. The entire documentation and verification process for organ transplantwas bypassed by using forged papers related with agreement of donor,relationship with donor id and address proofs, proof of marriage and clearanceof case by Hospital Internal Authorization Committee. All the necessarydocuments were made fraudulently by affixing donor’s photo showing the personas recipient’s relative using documents of a genuine relative, he added. Apollo hospital denied involvement in the kidney , racket emphasising that it was a”victim” of a well-orchestrated operation by the accused. “Thepolice in their investigation has identified secretarial staff of some doctors,who have been accused of being involved in the alleged racket. We reiterate thatthese are not employees of the hospital. While all due precautions wereconducted, the use of fake and forged documents was used for this racket with acriminal intent. The hospital has been a victim of a well-orchestratedoperation to cheat patients and the hospital,” the statement by hospital stated. The hospital also claimed that in order to ensure compliance with thelaw and diligence in process, it has an independent body with external members also for according consent for any transplant surgery. This Committee goesthrough all documents necessary to ensure that requirements under the concernedAct are complied with. Further, the hospital has ensured that all due process asper the law has been followed, added the hospital statement
