Youth helps cops bust kidney racket
A 23-year-old youth from Rajasthan helped the Delhi police unearth a racket involved in illegal sale and purchase of kidneys.
The team, in an exposé, has arrested four persons, including a woman, from Odisha.
The police claimed that they were part of a racket operating in many hospitals across several states as well as the national capita
The police said the gang targeted helpless families looking for kidney donors and charged a huge amount of money with the promise that they would complete necessary documentation and formalities for a smooth transplant.
The police said that the arrested members of the gang were identified as Jayant Sahoo, Sulekha Pandya, and Anoj Patra — all hailing from Odisha — and Briju Paswan from Delhi.
Probe revealed that the well-knit gang had a network of agents who lured people to donate their kidney by quoting an irresistible amount.
According to the police, the scam came to light when a 23-year-old youth, Jaideep Sharma, was approached by the gang members. It all began when on April 12 Mr Sharma received a call from one Imtiaz, who later introduced him to Jayant. The accused Jayant used a fake name and introduced himself as Rahul Sahoo. He then asked Mr Sharma to sell his kidney and offered him `4 lakh.
The 23-year-old immediately informed a media house and on April 13, came to the crime branch office along with some investigative journalists. A sting operation was carried out for over a month. The crime branch team along with the channel carried out recordings which include 200 hours of audio and video of the culprits.
During the probe, several meetings were held with the gang members and it came to light that Jayant had arranged for a new identity for Jaideep to fulfil the requirement/guidelines of the hospital as per the rules. Moreover, he forged all the documents under the name of one Mr Polepeddy Snayna Podma Phani Kumar, but with Jaideep’s photograph.
During the sting operation it was revealed that transaction of `30 lakh took place between the relatives of the patient and Jayant for the arrangement of a kidney donor. The logistics were taken care of by a lady identified as Surekha Pandya, resident of Cuttack, Odisha. The requisite medical tests were conducted at Batra Hospital on the basis of the forged documents.