Jaipur Kidney Transplant Racket: Donors, recipients lured from Bangladesh, FIR registered

Gurugram: In a significant breakthrough, a collaborative effort between the CM Flying Squad, the district health department, and Gurugram Police has uncovered an illegal kidney transplant racket operating across two private hospitals in Jaipur.

The racket allegedly facilitated illegal kidney transplants in exchange for monetary gains. After coming across a Facebook advertisement for selling a kidney, the donor got in touch with Ansari.

According to a PTI report, After the transplant, the gang allegedly used to make the patient and the donor stay in a guest house in Gurugram, said the police.

According to authorities, after the illegal transplants, both the recipients and the donors were reportedly accommodated in a guest house in Gurugram. Acting swiftly on intelligence inputs, a joint team conducted a raid on the aforementioned guest house, leading to the apprehension of two donors and three recipients. An FIR has been lodged at the Sadar police station, with efforts underway to apprehend the mastermind behind the illicit operation, identified as Mohammed Murtaza Ansari, hailing from Jharkhand.

According to the complaint filed by Gurugram Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr Pawan Chaudhary, the raid was conducted at M/S Babil Palace in Sector 39 following a tip-off that a nexus of organ transplant was being run by Ansari at the guest house, said police.

During the raid, it was discovered that five individuals, believed to be from Bangladesh, were residing in the guest house under Ansari's arrangement. Further investigations revealed that they were involved in the illegal kidney transplant operation, having undergone the procedures at a hospital in Jaipur. Notably, the donors and recipients lacked any documented evidence of consent or authorization for the procedures, indicating a flagrant violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994.

“The donor and the recipient do not have any blood relation. When the donors and the recipients were inquired about the no objection certificate or any permission from the authority, neither the donors nor the recipients could produce any such document.

“A donor, Shamim Mehndi Hasan, revealed that he came to know about a person through Facebook advertisement regarding earning money by selling kidney and he contacted Mohammed Murtaza Ansari… It is a violation of the Transplantation of the Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994 and act of cheating”, as Dr Chaudhary said in his complaint.

The police said, Following the complaint, an FIR was registered against Ansari and others under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and section 19 of the Transplantation of the Human Organs and Tissues Act 1994 at the Sadar police station on Thursday, news agency PTI reported.

Fortis Healthcare, in a statement, said it would fully cooperate with any ongoing investigation.

“Fortis Healthcare is committed to the highest ethical standards in healthcare, strictly following the SOTTO (State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation) protocols for organ transplants…each case is thoroughly evaluated…by the State Authorization Committee and obtains necessary government approvals…We have a zero-tolerance policy towards procedural deviations and we are committed to patient safety, care and transparency and ethical practices,” the statement added. A spokesperson said that a transplant coordinator at the hospital was found to have been involved with the racket, and action was taken against him by authorities last week.

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