Reversing trial court order, HC acquits 5 docs in kidney scam

CHANDIGARH : The Punjab and Haryana high court on Wednesday acquitted six persons — five doctors and a retired Haryana Police cop — accused in the kidney racket of 2002.

The retired cop, the recipient of a kidney, was awarded eight years’ imprisonment, while five years’ term was given to each of the five doctors by a trial court in November 2013.

Those acquitted are Dr OP Mahajan, then chairman, authorisation committee, and former principal, Government Medical College, Amritsar; and Dr Jagdish Gargi, then head, department of forensic medicine and member of authorisation committee; Dr HS Bhutani, Dr Arjinder Singh and Dr SPS Grover, associated with New Ruby Hospital, Jalandhar.

The sixth person is a kidney recipient, Suresh Kumar Sharma, a retired inspector of Haryana Police.

The order was pronounced by the high court bench of justice Fateh Deep Singh on Wednesday evening.

The detailed order is awaited. The case was an offshoot of the main kidney scam also unearthed in 2002. Around 2,000 kidney transplants reported to have taken place in Amritsar and Jalandhar were under the scanner.

The case was registered in October 2002 in Amritsar following allegations that a minor donor, Bagicha Singh of Jagraon, was coaxed into parting with his kidney to the retired inspector.

Allegations were that the youth was offered a sum of ₹40,000 and was kept in confinement. Later, he had died under mysterious circumstances after his kidney was removed.

Meanwhile, another bench of justice GS Gill has dismissed an appeal filed by a doctor, PK Sareen, seeking quashing of amendment of charge sheet in another case of the kidney scam. He is accused, among thirteen others, in two different First Information Reports (FIRS) registered in the scam in September 2002.

The court has allowed amalgamation of both the FIRS for expeditious trial, which as per a 2017 direction of the Supreme Court was to conclude within six months.

The high court has directed that the trial court takes up both the cases on the same day , common witnesses should be summoned on same day and a schedule be prepared in advance on different aspects of trial for early completion.

Police have been directed to ensure all witnesses remain present on the assigned date.

AROUND 2,000 KIDNEY TRANSPLANTS REPORTED TO HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN AMRITSAR AND JALANDHAR WERE UNDER THE SCANNER.