Police crack team leaves for Delhi to piece kidney racket

A team of three officers and five constables from the Mahim police station left for New Delhi last night to nab the 'Real culprits' of the inter-State kidney racket which was busted last week

A Staff Reporter

May 11, 2005

A team of three officers and five constables from the Mahim police station left for New Delhi last night to nab the 'real culprits' of the inter-state kidney racket which was busted last week. The kingpins are a group of seasoned doctors, including a couple of foreigners, who removed kidneys from hapless unemployed youths sent from Mumbai for their affluent clientele from Europe and the Middle East under the guise of promoting medical tourism. The plush clinic where these operations took place is located in Gurgaon, on the outskirts of the national capital. The Mahim police made a significant breakthrough in the investigation of the case on Monday night with the arrest of a doctor from Opera House area. Dr. Samir Kapadia, who owns Sumit Diagonistic Centre would perform 'renal angiography' tests on the victims in order to determine the condition of their kidney, before they are sent to New Delhi for transplantations. The painful test which takes at least 45 minutes to perform is done on the reference of an authorised medical practitioner. "However, Dr. Kapadia used to conduct these tests solely for the racket and without any bonafide references," senior inspector Joe Gaikwad said.

Though reputed authorised hospitals and clinics in the city conduct a maximum of two or three of such operations in a month, Dr. Kapadia had conducted 16 of such in February (this year) alone without following the procedure required under the Human Organ Transplantation Act. Moreover, though the test is normally done on persons above the age of 45, Kapadia used to conduct on victims who between 20-25 age group. Dr. Kapadia's name had figured in a similar scandal in 1994 when he was attatched to the Hurkishondas Hospital. However, the case was subsequently hushed up and Kapadia had managed to evade arrest. Yesterday he was remanded to police custody till May 13 by a magistrate's court. Side by side, the Mahim police traced another victim, Prakash Pednekar, whose kidney had been removed in the same New Delhi (Gurgaon)clinic sometime back. Prakash told the police that he was sent to Delhi by the racket's Mahim-based pointman, Javed Khan. Apart from monetary reward (Rs. 50,000), the recepient of his kidney, a woman from the Middle East, had promised her a job in the Gulf in return of his kidney.

"However, after removing my kidney, the woman never showed up," Prakash told the police. Sr. Inspector Gaekwad said that Prakash would be a key witness to the case even as efforts are on to trace the other victims. On May 5, police had arrested three persons, including a doctor, for allegedly duping a person and making him donate his kidney for money in April. They were arrested on the basis of a complaint filed by S.Srinivas Rao, a resident of Andhra Pradesh, who was in Mahim in search of a job. Rao alleged that he was promised Rs. 3 lakh by the accused but was never paid the money. Police suspect the involvement of some reputed hospitals and doctors in the entire scandal which is a reminder of a similar scam at Bombay Hospital which was busted three years ago.

Copyright © 2005 Cybernoon.

This article posted June 24, 2005.