Five doctors including the CEO and medical director of LH Hiranandani Hospital, who were recently arrested for their alleged involvement in the kidney racket case, were on Thursday granted bail by a court in Andheri. Those granted bail were CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, medical director Dr Anurag Naik, Dr Prakash Shetty, Dr Mukesh Shah and Dr Mukesh Shete. "The police had asked for the doctors to be placed in judicial custody given that the initial interrogation was complete and no criminal antecedents were found. They have now been granted bail on a surety of Rs 30,000 each and on the condition that they present themselves at Powai police station every Monday until September 26," said Shetty's defence advocate Subir Kumar.

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He added that the police could not establish the roles of the doctors in forging of documents for the transplant and that there is nothing that can be held against them besides the preliminary health services report. "Till September 26, the doctors can be interrogated on attendance at the police station or as the investigation officer deems necessary," Kumar said. The public prosecutor opposed the bail plea on the ground that the investigation is still underway and there is a possibility of the evidence being tampered with.

Besides this, a report from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) is awaited regarding the suspected involvement of another doctor who is a part of the local authorisation committee at DHS for transplants at Hiranandani hospital. The hospital management said in a statement, "We respect the judicial process that is underway and will continue to lend our complete support to the ongoing police investigation. Since this matter has come to light, we have also commissioned a full internal inquiry and engaged external consultants to conduct a forensic investigation into the administrative processes around kidney transplants at the hospital. We are committed to adhering to the highest standards of ethics and compliance in delivering outstanding patient care."Case registered under IPC and TOHA

The arrested people have been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 419 (cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property), 465 (forgery), 467 (forgery of valuable security), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record). Initially, the police had applied section 19 (punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (TOHA), and on Tuesday, added three sections.Names of people arrested in the case so far

Bhejendra Bhisen alias Sandeep, Kishan Jaiswal (son of recipient), Iqbal Ahmed Mohammad Siddiqui Khan, Bharatbhushan Sharma, Nilesh Kamble, Khwaja Shamshuddin Patel, Yusufsa Diwan, Brijkishore Jaiswal (recipient), Shobhna Thakore alias Rekha Devi (donor), Dr Mukesh Shette, Dr Anurag Naikh, Dr Sujit Chatterjee, Dr Mukesh Shah and Dr Prakash Shetty