The city police on Sunday arrested six persons, including a doctor and a lab technician, for their alleged involvement in the kidney racket case which was busted a few days ago.
The arrested were identified as B. Elena, M Kamaraju, M Srinu, M. Kondamma (wife of Srinu), Sekhar, who works as a lab technician and Dr. Parameswara Rao from the private hospital at Pendurthi.
Addressing a press conference, here, on Sunday, Police Commissioner C.M. Trivikrama Varma said that G. Vinay Kumar from Vambay Colony was working as a driver. His acquaintance M Srinu had introduced him to Elena and Kamaraju. Vinay Kumar was offered ₹8.5 lakh, if he gave his consent to donate one of his kidneys, for which he agreed. Mr. Trivikrama Varma said that clinical tests were also conducted on him during October.
After his parents came to know about his consent for kidney donation, Vinay left for his relatives’ house in Hyderabad. Later, Kamaraju, who had arranged the deal, insisted that Vinay return to Visakhapatnam and donate his kidney, failing which he threatened to harm parents of Vinay. Vinay returned to Visakhapatnam and the surgery was performed on him in December at a private hospital. N. Venkateswarlu, who was the main accused in the case, is yet to be arrested, said the Police Commissioner.
Venkateswarlu has links with Elena and Kamaraju, through whom he established contact with Vinay. “During the investigation, we have identified Sekhar, who works in a laboratory at Maharanipeta, is also involved in the crime. He is the one, who had sent the samples of Vinay to another lab in Hyderabad for the relevant tests, which are not available in Vizag,” Mr. Trivikrama Varma said.
He said that Venkateswarlu had engaged two persons Ramesh and Pavan to get a hospital for the surgery. The duo had approached Dr Parameswara Rao of Tirumala Nursing Home, Pendurthi, and came to an understanding for the transplantation surgery, for which they had paid ₹60,000 as charges.
The transplantation was done during the third week of December. During the surgery, the gang had switched off the CCTV cameras and took the entire floor under their control. An organ transplant coordinator named Sai from a private hospital had arranged two doctors to perform the surgery. The Police Commissioner said that the two doctors were yet to be arrested. He also said that the gang members had cheated the victim by paying him only ₹2.5 lakh. The police teams have also found the recipient was from Chhattisgarh but more details were awaited.
Mr. Trivikrama Varma said that N. Venkateswarlu was involved in a kidney racket case during the year 2019 under Maharanipeta police station. He was arrested and was in remand at Central Prison in Visakhapatnam for about 40 days. After release from the jail, he had continued his old ways. The accused keeps on scouting for victims in various districts. The Police Commissioner also said that they had found that the gang had conducted another transplant during the month of February.
Deputy Commissioner of Police S. Vidya Sagar Naidu and others were present.
