Kidney racket: Kingpin named, hunt on for docs

Chandrapur: The special investigation team (SIT) probing the sprawling pan-India kidney trafficking racket with international links is close to concluding its investigation, with police identifying Solapur-based Ramkrishna Sunchu as the key handler who allegedly orchestrated the illegal organ trade network.Special inspector general of police (Nagpur range) Sandeep Patil, during his inspection visit to Chandrapur on Tuesday, said investigations have revealed that Sunchu played a pivotal role in locating vulnerable kidney donors, identifying recipients, arranging finances, and coordinating transplant surgeries through Delhi-based surgeon Dr Ravinder Pal Singh and Dr Rajratnam Govindaswamy, managing director of Star KIMS Hospital in Trichy.SIT chief and additional SP Ishwar Katkade said a detailed 5,000-page chargesheet has been filed in the Brahmapuri JMFC court, backed by extensive evidence gathered from multiple locations including Kolkata and Delhi. A second supplementary chargesheet is expected soon.The case first surfaced after Chandrapur resident Roshan Kule, a debt-ridden farmer from Nagbhid taluka, who had undergone an illegal kidney transplant in Cambodia. Investigators later uncovered a much wider organ trafficking syndicate that allegedly exploited poor and financially distressed individuals across India.Police said over 6,500 pages of WhatsApp chats recovered from Sunchu exposed the network's operations. Posing online as ‘Dr Krishna' through his Facebook page ‘Kidney Donor O Positive Community', Sunchu allegedly recruited donors, coordinated with doctors, collected payments from recipients, and distributed shares among surgeons, hospitals and donors.Both Dr Singh and Dr Govindaswamy are currently absconding after higher courts rejected their bail pleas. Police have issued lookout notices and non-bailable warrants, while teams dispatched to Delhi and Trichy failed to locate them. Police have pasted notices at their residences seeking them to appear before Chandrapur police for further investigation.Notably, all accused in the case have been booked under Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), which deal with illegal removal and commercial dealings in human organs, along with related sections of BNS. Investigators believe the arrest of the fugitive doctors could expose deeper financial and operational layers of the trafficking syndicate.SP Ayush Nopany along with senior police officers were present at the press briefing.