Inter-state kidney racket busted in Delhi, four held

Four persons, including a woman, members of an inter-state kidney racket, have been arrested here, the police said on Friday.

The arrests came after a month-long joint undercover operation by the Delhi Police Crime Branch and a news channel, according to police.

"A youngster from Rajasthan, who got a phone call offering to sell his kidney, approached a reporter and together they came to Delhi Crime Branch to expose the racket," Deputy Commissioner of Police Madhur Verma said.

A sting operation spread over a month was carried out by the joint team, during which about 200 hours of footage was shot, Verma said.

The arrested have been identified as Sulekha Panda, 27, Jayant Sahoo, 32, Anoj Patra, 33 -- all from Odisha, and Birju Paswan, 45, of Delhi.

It all began with 23-year-old Jaideep Sharma of Rajasthan getting a call from one of the accused, Jayant, offering to sell Jaideep's kidney for Rs 4 lakh, the police said.

On April 13, Jaideep, along with a reporter of a news channel approached Delhi Police Crime Branch to expose the racket, and the police decided to do a joint operation.

The undercover operation revealed how Jaideep was given a fake identity to fulfil the hospital requirements. Jayant also obtained an Aadhaar Card, Election Identity Card and a State Bank of India passbook for the man under the new identity.

The police said that an internal committee of doctors even approved Jaideep for kidney transplantation after interviewing him, which is a mandatory provision under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.

"The kidney transplantation date was fixed for May 25 at Batra Hospital," Verma said.

The police said that during investigation, raids were conducted including at Batra Hospital and several documents have been seized.

--IANS

nkh/pgh/vt