Hyderabad: A Sri Lankan connection has emerged in the Nalgonda kidney racket case as the police has found that the main broker and other donors underwent illegal transplant surgeries in three different hospitals in Colombo in the last two years. The agent, Kasparaju Suresh (22) travelled to Sri Lanka in December 2014 and sold his kidney, after which he decided to become an agent for the racketeers.
He lured at least 14 people from Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to sell their kidneys last year. Police said that Nawaloak Hospital, Western Hospital, and Lankan Hospital, which are located in Colombo, took in the Indian donors for kidney transplants. However, cops have zero knowledge about the surgeons working for the racket. “We are still investigating who the doctors were,” said a senior police official from Nalgonda. Cops also do not have much information about the kingpins of the racket. The only significant arrest the police has made so far is that of Suresh. “He took '50,000 commission for each donor. Earlier, he had sold his kidney for '5 lakh,” said S. Sudhakar, DSP of Nalgonda.
Suresh had registered himself on ineedkidney.com and had put up his contact number. “In November, 2014 he uploaded his phone number. Soon agents contacted him and he flew to Colombo the next month. After coming back, he learned the trick of the trade and became an agent,” said the DSP. Suresh contacted four people from Nalgonda, four from Hyderabad, two from Tamil Nadu, and four from Bengaluru on behalf of the racket. Along with Suresh, few other donors were also caught by the police. Cops have booked a case against Suresh under the AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995.
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Kidney racket in Telangana busted
Huge demand triggers racket
Social media marketplace for kidneys is accessible
The online marketplace for kidneys, where organ dealers and donors meet, is accessible to any user. Several people, including from Telangana, openly endorse commercial kidney donation online though the AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995, bans commercial donation. A huge number of websites, Facebook pages and open groups on social media are used by international kidney rackets.
The names of these pages might sound like charity organisations or dialysis clinics, and the descriptions might also suggest that it is legal to buy and sell organs. The racketeers use phrases like “in the name of god or humanity” and “save lives” to make it sound legit and charitable.
Once an interested donor is added on the FB group, or signs up on the website, the deal is clinched through personal chats and phone calls. There are several Facebook pages that specifically target donors from Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Public posts on social media groups are replete with details including names, ages, blood groups, email addresses, health statuses, and even phone numbers of donor and receivers. There are also several testimonies like: “My name is Felicia Mike. I want to tell the world how Dr Johnson J. Francis made me rich by buying one of my kidneys. I was from a poor home, but today, we are rich with the grace of god. The hospital pays upfront money after meeting the requirement. Are you financially down? Then contact this number...” Most donors’ posts indicate that they are desperately in deed of money. Many say that they have debts and are ready to sell organ for less than '5 lakh. The online testimonies show that agents take Indian donors to countries like Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia and Sri Lanka for the transplant surgery.
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