Vijayawada MRO helps bust kidney racket, four arrested

VIJAYAWADA: A revenue officer reported a kidney racket to the police at Bhavanipuram here, which led to the arrest of four persons including two women here on Wednesday.

The accused fabricated documents and submitted them to the Vijayawada West mandal revenue officer (MRO) office. The documents claimed that the donor and recipient were relatives. When the MRO found the certificates were fabricated, the police were informed.

The arrested were Kati Karthik (30), Kati Nagamani (26), Thammishetty Venkaiah (34) and Vanamala Kanaka Mahalakshmi (30).

Police said Karthik, a construction labourer, got acquainted with Babu Rao, a broker in kidney sales. Karthik had worked with Babu Rao for some days as a daily wager and used to take people to hospitals for health check-ups before the transplantation.

Meanwhile, Karthik met one Deepak Reddy, who needed a kidney transplant and struck a deal for Rs 29 lakh. Initially, Karthik arranged two women for transplantation but they were rejected due to their ill health.

Later, Karthik approached Vanamal Mahalakshmi, a widow, who convinced Gadu Chinna to sell her kidney for money.

Mahalakshmi handed over Chinna to Karthik and his wife Nagamani, for which Mahalakshmi received Rs 80,000. Later, Karthik took Rs 3.5 lakh from Deepak Reddy, completed the health check-up, fabricated certificates and produced a document in the MRO office stating Chinna was willing to donate her kidney to her cousin Deepak Reddy.

The officer noticed that the accused submitted a fake affidavit and also lied about the relationship. It was found that a deal of Rs 29 lakh was struck between both parties and an advance amount was taken.