City Crime Branch has summoned three more doctors from Chennai to record their statements in the multi-crore kidney racket.
They are coming to city from Chennai today to record statements in the multi-crore kidney racket
City Crime Branch has summoned three more doctors from Chennai to record their statements in the multi-crore kidney racket. The scam came to light last week, with the arrest of high profile Chennai surgeon Palani Ravichandran and four of his associates. The doctors are expected to arrive in city on Thursday. “They were part of the team which helped Dr Ravichandran conduct the transplants,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (crime) Rakesh Maria.
Police were of opinion that these doctors’ statements would reveal how the surgeries were conducted and how widespread was the racket.
More than a 1,000 duped
Crime Branch believe that Dr Ravichandran and his associates could have duped more than a 1,000 people. “Those arrested have already given names of 741 victims. The list is likely to grow further,” said Maria.
The register seized by police from Chennai’s Bharati Raja hospital showed that more than 476 kidney transplants had taken place there in the past three years. “Out of three hospitals, we have managed to get data from just one. If similar number of surgeries took place in the other two, then the aggregate of all three would easily be more than 1,000,” said Maria. It has been learnt that the transplants were conducted at Bharati Raja, New Bharati Raja and St Thomas hospitals in Chennai.
Suspects said that a Chennai-based lawyer was also involved in the racket. His job was to create bogus documents, which would show the kidney donor as a relative of the recipient. “The lawyer was given Rs1 lakh for each case. We are on the lookout for that lawyer too,” said a senior Crime Branch officer.
In a joint raid by police and Income-Tax sleuths, Rs55 lakh in cash was seized from Ravichandran’s residence in Chennai. Other crucial records pertaining to surgeries, such as FD documents and a list of donors and recipients, have also been seized. “We have seized some crucial documents, which will bolster our case against the suspects. I do not want to comment on the contents at this juncture,” Maria said.
Another victim speak up
Dinesh Ramchandra Yadav, 30, a resident of BIT Chawl in Mumbai Central, has registered a complaint with police. He was operated on September 26, just a few days before Ravichandran was arrested. The victim, a daily wage worker with a catering contractor, was promised Rs3 lakh, but was paid a mere Rs20,000. “Yadav told us that he was approached by two persons, Shamim and Haneef. The duo has been arrested,” said Maria.
A victim from Chennai had filed a complaint with the state human rights commission in Tamil Nadu in February. Surprisingly, the commission did not act on his complaint. The victim had said that he was promised Rs4 lakh, but got only Rs80,000 after the surgery.
The noose tightens
In accordance to Transplantation of Human Organs Act, Mumbai Crime Branch referred the case to a panel of doctors of the state health department. The panel on Tuesday gave green signal to police to invoke and apply the stringent Act on the arrested suspects. “Accordingly, sections 19 and 20 of the Act have been applied on the arrested suspects,” Maria said. If found guilty, the suspects could face imprisonment ranging between two and seven years, and cash penalty up to Rs20,000.
Celebrity villain
Chennai police had busted a similar kidney transplant racket in January. Ironically, they had sought Ravichandran’s help to crack the case. “He regularly features on television shows in Chennai,” a senior police officer told DNA. An Italian website has featured Ravichandran as one of the renowned kidney transplant surgeons in India.
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