4 held as Kidney racket busted in Hyderabad

On Monday, Hyderabad police arrested four persons including a doctor who were claimed to be a part of a racket of kidney transplants for Indian patients at Sri Lankan or Iran hospitals. Dr Hirdesh Saxena alias Kumar, a resident of Shirdi in Maharashtra, and other residents A Ashok, a student; Sanjay Kumar Jain, a passport agent and K Raghavender, a businessman were arrested by the officers of Commissioner's Task Force (West Zone) on Monday.

Dr Saxena was said to be the key player of the entire racket informed Additional police commissioner Anjani Kumar. Dr Saxena made a profit of Rs 8 lakh per transplant while the recipients had to shell out Rs 30 lakh, he added.

Acting as Dr Saxena’s agent, Raghavender alias Dr Sanjay Kapoor, earned a payment of Rs 3 lakh per donor. Ashok helped find donors for Raghavender earning Rs 50,000 while Jain charged Rs 30, 000 to Rs 40,000 for arranging passports. Through sub-agents and social media, youngsters were lured and persuaded to donate kidney for money. The donors who held passports were paid Rs 5 lakh while others were paid Rs 3 lakh informed the officer. Also, Dr Saxena allied with Ram Kumar of Chennai who provided him with donors for Rs 3 lakh. The transplant was performed in either Sri Lanka or Iran though both recipients and donors would be Indian nationals resulting in the government regulators being kept in the dark.

On tourist visa, Donors and recipients would be taken to Sri Lanka or Iran with Dr Saxena scouting for patients through social media and at dialysis centres. ACP Kumar said that the racket which has been taking place since one year operated in Chennai, Karnataka, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Kerala. A case has been registered by the IPC under the Andhra Pradesh Transplantation of Human Organs Act-1995.