Kidney transplant racket busted, Delhi Anaesthetist held

New Delhi: Delhi Police have busted a kidney racket in South Delhi and arrested 10 persons from various parts of the city.

The case was registered at the Hauz Khas police station. According to the police, one of the arrested persons is a doctor while the others are technicians and helpers.

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On May 26, 2022, secret information was received at Hauz Khas Police Station regarding an illegal kidney transplantation racket operating in the area of Hauz Khas. They targeted the poor and needy persons and induced them to give (sell) their kidneys. They further sold it to the persons who are in need of kidneys at a very high price.

On this information, a team was constituted to develop the information further and as per information, a trap was laid in the Hauz Khas area. On pointing out of the informer, one person was located and it was also revealed that such a person will be taken to Hauz Khas in a lab for pre-anaesthesia check-up (medical tests) by the racket members.

On this information, a trap was laid near the private lab in Hauz Khas area where on pointing out of the informer, one person namely Pintu Kumar Yadav was located who informed that he was taken at the lab by Sarvjeet and Vipin on the pretext of treatment of his abdomen pain but when he realized that they took him there for kidney donation, he had arguments with them and they went away from there.

A case under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act was registered by the police and an investigation of the same was taken up. A team of Delhi Police officials was formed to bust the racket.

An operation theatre was set up in Sonipat where the patients were operated upon.

"During the interrogation, the detained doctor revealed that he charged lakhs of rupees from a patient for an operation. It was revealed that nearly 14 people were targeted over six months. The figure could increase as the investigation into the matter is underway," said the police.

The team started working on the information and worked relentlessly and further, on the instance of Pintu Kumar Yadav, the police staff reached Sarvjeet Jailwal and Raghu Sharma. On enquiry, it was revealed that Raghu Sharma's kidney had already been taken by Sarvjeet and other gang members.

After that, on pointing out of the Raghu Sharma, the team raided A Block, DDA Flats, Paschim Vihar where four persons including one Shailesh Patel with three other persons namely Diwarkar Sarkar, Ashwini Pandey and Rizwan were found present and on an investigation, it was found that these three persons were taken there for illegal kidney transplantation and some medical documents were also recovered from there.

There, all pre-medical tests were already conducted by the gang members. When they were about to take them for illegally transplanting their kidneys, Delhi Police nabbed the accused.

On enquiry, it was revealed that Shailesh Patel used to identify soft targets who are needy persons for the sake of their kidneys. All the above mentioned three persons were also taken for the same purpose by him and his other associates namely Bikash, Vikash and Vipin.

Both Sarvjeet and Shailesh were interrogated at length and on the basis of sufficient evidences on record, they were arrested in the case by the police. On interrogation, both the accused persons revealed that they used to target needy and poor persons for kidneys.

After that, one more accused Md. Latif who worked as a field boy in the Lab in Hauz Khas also got arrested. He used to take the kidney donors/sellers to Diagnostic Centres for their required tests that too without any prescription and to one other Centre for DTPA test which is the most important test to know about the working of the kidney.

DCP South, Benita Mary told ANI, "One Dr Sourabh Mittal, an anesthesiologist was also arrested in the case. He worked in a reputed hospital in Delhi and gave his services in illegal transplantation with other accused persons." 

Further, three more accused Kuldeep Ray Vishvakarama, Om Prakash Sharma and Manoj Tiwari were arrested in the case and they all are OT Technicians in one of the big hospitals in Delhi with Dr Sourabh Mittal. During interrogation, it was revealed that Kuldeep Ray Vishwakarma is the main mastermind of this gang who convinced other persons for these illegal transplantations and also selected the Clinic of Sonu Rohilla for the execution of operations.

Further probe into the matter is underway.

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