Another kidney transplant racket exposed in Delhi, eight arrested

New Delhi, July 19 (HS): Delhi Police Crime Branch has once again exposed a kidney transplant racket. The Crime Branch team has arrested eight accused in this case, who were running an illegal kidney transplant racket on the basis of fake documents.

This entire racket was being run in hospitals located in five states of the country - Delhi, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat on the basis of fake documents.

Delhi Police Crime Branch has exposed this entire racket and after arresting the accused in the case, has also started further investigation in it. The possibilities of involvement of more people in this racket are also being explored. A press conference was held by the Crime Branch regarding this entire matter. Delhi Police Crime Branch DCP Amit told in the press conference how this entire racket was run.

He said that the syndicate was busted following a complaint by a woman whose husband was duped of ₹35 lakh in the name of kidney transplant. The gang was active in Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. ISC, Crime Branch received secret information about a well-organised racket involved in illegal kidney transplant of Indian citizens. The information was confirmed and work was carried out to trace the syndicate. During identification of the victims, a woman complainant lodged a complaint against Sandeep and Vijay Kumar Kashyap alias Sumit stating that they had duped her husband of Rs 35 lakh on the pretext of kidney transplant.

On June 26, with the help of technical surveillance, the characters concerned were identified and a team was formed under the overall supervision of ACP/ISC Inspector Ramesh Lamba and Satyendra Mohan and led by Inspector Pawan and Mahipal, which raided several places. The accused Sumit alias Vijay Kashyap, a resident of Lucknow, was arrested from Noida and a lot of fake documents, stamp seals and patient/donor files were recovered from his possession.

After this, a case was registered in this matter under relevant sections. On June 28, Sandeep Arya and Devendra, residents of Uttarakhand, were arrested from a five-star hotel in Goa.

The Crime Branch said that a total of 15 members, including its kingpin, have been arrested, who was running this entire racket. All of them include transplant coordinators of hospitals, patients and donors along with the kingpin. A lot of incriminating material including stamps, seals of various authorities, blank papers of various hospitals and laboratories, files of fake documents of patients and donors of kidney transplant and other important fake ID documents have been recovered from the possession of the accused persons. Police have recovered 34 fake stamps, 17 mobile phones, 2 laptops, 9 SIMs, 1 luxury car, Rs 1,50,000, fake documents and files of patients/recipients and donors from their possession.

During interrogation, it was revealed that the members of this gang first secured jobs as transplant coordinators in reputed hospitals and then got trained and learnt the procedure followed by the concerned hospital for kidney transplant. Thereafter, they used to identify patients suffering from kidney ailments and undergoing treatment in various hospitals in Delhi, Faridabad, Mohali, Panchkula, Agra, Indore and Gujarat.

Many of the accused used to look for kidney donors through social media. Among the eight arrested, three are kidney donors themselves. The accused persons used to contact donors through social media and exploited them on the pretext of paying Rs 5 to 6 lakh for donating kidney.

They prepared fake documents of the patients/donors to show them as close relatives as it is one of the mandatory provisions. In some cases, they prepared fake documents and showed the donor and the patient as residents of another state to get transplant done in another state hospital to avoid any suspicion. On the basis of fake documents, their initial medical examination was done and arrangements were also made to pass the Transplant Authorization Committee scrutiny in various hospitals. So far it has been revealed that the syndicate has performed successful kidney transplant operations in 11 hospitals in different states.

During further investigation, on their information, five associates, prominently including Punit Kumar, Mohammad Hanif Sheikh, Cheeka Prashant, Tej Prakash and Rohit Khanna alias Narendra, have been arrested from different places. Apart from this, 5 patients and 2 donors who underwent kidney transplant have been identified and legal action has been initiated against them. So far 34 cases of illegal kidney transplant have been identified and further investigation is going on.

It is noteworthy that on July 9, the Crime Branch of Delhi Police had also busted an international kidney transplant racket, in which the organ transplant racket used to take a kidney from a kidney donor for four to five lakh rupees and give it to the receiver for 20 to 30 lakh rupees. In this, seven people including a woman doctor of well-known hospitals were arrested. The people arrested in this case had links with Bangladesh. This international racket was also running a kidney racket on the basis of fake documents and it was told that during 2021 and 2023, this entire racket had also done about 15 to 16 kidney transplants in a private hospital in Noida.