Investigations into the kidney racket busted by the Delhi Police on Thursday have revealed that the accused had links in Colombo.
“The racket has spread to Sri Lanka. We will soon send a police team there to gather inputs,” said a senior police officer.
Police teams, however, have been sent to Kolkata, Mumbai and Hyderabad based on the information given by the four accused — Jayant Sahoo alias Rahul (32), Sulekha Panda (27), Anoj Patra (33) and Birju Paswan (45).
Exploitation of patients
The racketeers would allegedly exploit patients who didn’t have relatives to donate kidneys to them.
The scam was unearthed with the help of one Jaideep Sharma.
An MBA student from Jaipur, Mr. Sharma stumbled upon the racket when he allegedly found a web page calling for kidney donors.
Thereafter, he planned with the city police in busting the gang.
The accused were nabbed from west Delhi’s Batra Hospital, when Mr. Sharma, who had posed as a donor, was being wheeled into the operation theatre.
Shrouded in mystery
The fact that Mr. Sharma’s medical tests were conducted at a diagnostic centre instead of the hospital, as is the practice, put the hospital under scanner.
“Some officials of the hospital were interrogated on Friday. They will be summoned again if need be,” said the officer.
He added that the police were looking for the mastermind(s) as the four accused had acted only as middlemen in the racket. “Further investigation is under way,” the officer added.
