Kidney racketeers sent 21 victims to Sri Lanka

Hyderabad: The city police has found that the kidney racketeers, who had sent deceased victim Dinesh Maroo to Sri Lanka, had sent as many as 21 people from different parts of AP to Colombo for kidney surgeries in the last few months.

Two of the three arrested accused, D.S. Pavan Srinivas, an MBA student, and N. Venkatesham, were working for the racket led by a Lankan doctor, who would give them huge commissions for every case.

Srinivas, 25, who is a resident of BN Reddynagar of Vanasthalipuram, had already sold his organ to the same Lankan doctor, known as “Monik”, several months ago. “He came back to the country and started working for the doctor. He convinced the victims by showing his experience,” said an investigation official.

Another accused, Surya Narayana, from Vijayawada, worked as an agent to mislead police investigation and media. “He also extorted money from two other agents in the last six months,” a police officer said. The Lankan doctor allegedly sells each kidney for Rs 30 lakh to Rs 50 lakh to hospitals in Sri Lanka, and pays Rs 5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh to the victims. “The doctor contacts other hospitals in Lanka and according to the need, gets donors from India. Srinivas and Venkatesham would find people from the state and send them to Colombo. So far they have sent as many as 21 people, of whom, few have donated and few have not,” said commissioner of police Anurag Sharma.

The police chief confirmed that Dinesh Maroo, who died in Colombo, had not undergone transplant surgery. “ He was about to be operated, Dinesh had gone to the beach with another Indian, Aram Zargar. There he had consumed beer and smoked heavily. After that, he started vomiting heavily and had difficulty breathing. Though he was taken to a Colombo government hospital, the doctors declared him dead,” said the commissioner.

He added that the racketeers used different websites to advertise and lure people from different parts of the country. “This gang has several agents operating in India from cities like Pune, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Bhubaneswar, Kurukshetra etc.,” Mr Sharma said.

Another victim, Kiran Kumar, from West Godavari, who had sold his kidney when he went with Dinesh, said that he was undergoing the operation when Dinesh died. He said that he was offered '3.9 lakh for his organ.

The police has booked a case against the accused under AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act apart from the IT act.