Three arrested in international kidney transplantation racket

HYDERABAD: Three persons who were involved in an

international kidney transplantation racket

were arrested by

Rachakonda police

on Monday. It was a Hyderabad based

kidney donor

, whose bitter experience in Turkey after not getting the promised amount of Rs 20 lakhs, exposed this

illegal organ donation racket

whose tentacles are spread to Turkey, Egypt and Sri Lanka.



Rachakonda police said that kingpin

Amrish Prathap

, a resident of Noida, Sandeep Kumar alias

Rohan Malik

, Ritika Jaiswal both residents of New Delhi, were nabbed in Delhi and brought them to Hyderabad on transit warrant.

On February 5, Rachakonda Commissioner of Police, received a complaint from a victim in which he stated that, victim saw a post in July 2018 on Facebook under the caption “Kidney needed in India” posted with a profile name ‘Rohan Malik’.

"On seeing the post, victim contacted Rohan Malik through his Whatsapp number #9650121463 who told the victim that they will pay him huge sum of money if he sells his kidney. They assured to provide him expenses for transportation, accommodation, documentation and medical examinations. Victim to meet his financial need, accepted the offer of Rohan Malik who promised to pay him Rs. 20 lakh, " Commissioner Mahesh Bhagwat said during press conference on Monday afternoon.

The victim went to Delhi, where he was received by Malik, who provided accommodation to victim in Radisson Hotel in Noida, where he stayed there for 7 days to undergo the required medical examinations. Malik collected victim's original passport and sent him back to Hyderabad, to get PCC (Police Clearance certificate) before he was shifted to Turkey.

Commissioner said that on August 11, Malik informed the victim about his travel to Turkey to undergo surgery and removal of the victim's kidney. At Hotel Lemon Tree, Delhi the victim was made to meet one Dr. Rithika Singh, of Delhi who introduced him to the patient ‘Gagan Agarwal’ and his family members.

"Before travelling to Turkey, Mr. Malik and Dr. Rithika Singh prepared forged documents and purported them to be genuine and legal so as to get the surgery performed at Kent Hospital Izmir Turkey," Bhagwat said.

It was on August 14, 2018 the accused sent both the victim and patient Gagan Agarwal along with his family to Izmir, Turkey, along with one English translator.

"After reaching Izmir one Ambrish and Ms.Dina (Turkey national) received them and conducted some formal medical tests at Kent Hospital, Izmir. On August 27, Kidney transplantation surgery was conducted at Kent Hospital. However, after the surgery Ambrish refused to pay the promised money to victim, which led to the dispute. The victim pleaded them to at least return his passport and make arrangements to reach India. The accused before sending victim to India, threatened him not to disclose the organ transplant scandal to anyone.

Ambrish has contacts with several doctors, diagnostic centers, govt officials, agents and brokers associated with this scandal. He used to induce the donors who were in desperate need of money by hiring agents and used social media to lure victims. " At the same time, Ambrish used to be busy searching for rich patients who can spend around Rs 50 Lakhs to Rs 1 Cr for kidney transplantation. He used to send patients and donors to Western Hospital, Colombo of Srilanka. Al-fahad Hospital, Cairo of Egypt and Kent Hospital, Izmir of Turkey and was successful in conducting around 40 transplantations, " police said.