The city police are investigating a Colombo-based kidney racket in which a youngster from Hyderabad lost his life.
A criminal case under the Information Technology Act was registered after Ganesh, brother of Dileep Maaru alias Dinesh, approached the Hyderabad Central Crime Station alleging that his brother died in Colombo because of the kidney racket. A resident of Kishan Bagh in Old City, Maaru left his house on March 22 telling his family members that he was going to Visakhapatnam in search of a job.
Six days later, he rang up his family in Hyderabad stating that he had actually landed in Colombo to find a job. “He said that two other youngsters had accompanied him,” Ganesh told the police.
Meanwhile, on March 30, Maaru’s family received a telephone call from the Sri Lanka police stating that Maaru had died and his body shifted to the local government hospital. The police reportedly said that he died of a heart attack.
With the help of the Indian government, Maaru’s family got the body flown to Hyderabad on April 3 and performed his last rites.
“I had doubts about my brother in his mid-20s dying of heart attack. While checking his emails, I found that some persons had been communicating with him via email about buying his kidney,” he told the police.
According to CCS DCP Pala Raju, the email contacts of Maaru offered him Rs. 15 lakh if he agreed to sell his kidney. They also offered free to and fro air tickets, accommodation and promised to arrange for the passport.
“We cannot say if his kidney was removed and if Maaru died after or during surgery. Based on the email content, a case was registered,” he said. Police are analysing the emails and Maaru’s mobile phone call data record.
