VISAKHAPATNAM: Dwarka police in Visakhapatnam have arrested Mamidi Anil Kumar, prime accused linked to a private hospital in a kidney racket case.
The racket came to surface on July 5 when Moola Venkata Satyanarayana Gopi, whose wife Sarada Lakshmi required a kidney transplant, filed a complaint against Dr. Vani and Anil Kumar, an agent.
Gopi said Anil Kumar promised to arrange a person who would donate a kidney for his wife in exchange of ₹27 lakh. Believing him, Gopi paid an advance of ₹10 lakh to Anil Kumar. After receiving the money, however, Anil Kumar disappeared without arranging for the kidney.
Dwarka police told Deccan Chronicle that they have arrested Anil Kumar, the agent, who has been remanded to 15-day custody. They are investigating the case further to determine whether Dr. Vani and others are involved in the case.
This is the fourth kidney racket that has been busted in Visakhapatnam since 2015. The first incident came to light in 2015, when the Enforcement Directorate arrested several individuals, including Dr. N. Prabhakar Babu, director of a private hospital in Ram Nagar. Namita Nayak, a woman driven by poverty, agreed to donate her kidney for ₹10 lakh. But she received only ₹50,000.
Another kidney scam surfaced at a private hospital in Maharanipeta of Visakhapatnam. Thambulla Pardhasaradhi from Hyderabad sold his kidney in an illegal transplant facilitated by Dr. M. Manjunath and Dr. Doddhi Prabhakar.
In 2019, a kidney racket operating out of a private hospital in Pendurthi got exposed. Narla Venkateswara Rao had been identified as the ringleader. He, along with several middlemen and a doctor, had been arrested for their involvement in the illegal organ trade.
