Court reserves order on plea challenging decision to close kidney sale racket case

A Lucknow court on Tuesday reserved its order on a protest plea filed against the police decision to shut a case related to an alleged kidney racket active on Facebook.

Special Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (Customs Lucknow) Sudesh Kumar said the order on the protest petition will be pronounced on September 30.

Lawyer Nutan Thakur, representing IPS officer Amitabh Thakur, told the court that the police did not investigate the case properly which led to a wrong conclusion.

In May 2014, the 1992-batch Uttar Pradesh cadre IPS officer had filed a complaint at Gomtinagar police station, alleging that a gang was contacting Facebook users to purchase their kidney. They are offering Rs 3.5-4 lakh for a kidney, he had said.

In his complaint, Thakur said that one Prateek Jain had told him that he was contacted by one Anurag Joshi on Facebook. "When I contacted Joshi, he told me that I would get about Rs 3 lakh for a kidney," he had said.

The IPS officer had alleged that the man asked him to travel to Iran to sell the organ.

The case was closed by Crime Branch, Lucknow Police, which submitted before the court that its investigation had not found any substance in the allegations of kidney sale on Facebook.