Police arrest four members of kidney selling racket

The Delhi Police on Thursday arrested four persons, including a woman, for their alleged involvement in the illegal sale and purchase of kidneys. The police was helped by a Rajasthan resident who has been in search of his missing friend.

Crime Branch officials revealed that apart from the gang, the role of top Delhi hospitals, including Batra hospital, are under the scanner. 

In a release, Batra Hospital stated, “The hospital has and will fully co-operate with the police and earnestly assist in finding out the culprit.” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Praveer Ranjan said the arrests were made after a trap was laid through Jaideep Sharma, a 23-year-old resident of Sikar, Rajasthan.

An MBA student from Symbiosis College, Pune, Sharma has not even told his parents that his life for the past month has revolved only around police officers and criminals. He said the disappearance of a 24-year-old classmate at his coaching centre was the trigger.  

“He once mentioned about kidney donation and then mysteriously disappeared,” said Sharma.  He approached the police on April 13 this year, and set himself up as decoy donor online where he got in touch with a person called Imtiaz, who introduced him to one Jayant alias Rahul Sahoo.

Jayant told Sharma that a family from Andhra Pradesh needed a kidney and took him to a place in Hauz Rani where he was found by the police. 

“It took over 40 days of investigation and over 200 hours of video recording by the Crime Branch officials to unearth the entire scam. The four accused have been identified as Jayant Sahoo alias Rahul Sahoo (32), Sulekha Panda (27), Anoj Patra (33) and Birju Paswan (45),” said Ranjan. The kingpin of the gang has been identified as Srikant Sahoo, who is absconding.

Busting the gang

Police were given a tip-off by an MBA student Jaideep Sharma, who joined hands with them to trap the gang.
Sharma went undercover as a potential donor, wearing a spy-cam that helped to bust the racket