Delhi police bust interstate illegal kidney transplant racket, eight arrested

New Delhi [India], July 19 : The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Friday claimed to have busted an interstate illegal kidney racket that forged documents for transplants in exchange for money. Eight people, including the kingpin, transplant coordinator of hospitals, patients and donors have been arrested in connection with the racket that was active in Delhi-NCR, Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, officials said.
According to officials, the kingpin Sandeep Arya has been arrested from Goa alongwith other accused identified as Devender Jha, Vijay Kumar Kashyap, Puneet Kumar, Md. Hanif Shaikh, Cheeka Prashanth, Tej Prakash and Rohit Khanna.
The recoveries include 34 stamps of various officers of different states, six forged files of kidney patients and donors, blank documents of various laboratories and hospitals to prepare forged documents, material to prepare stamps, two laptops containing incriminating data and record of Kidney Transplantation, 17 mobile phones, nine SIM cards and Rs 1.5 lakhs, Mercedes car of accused Sandeep Arya used to influence patients.
Speaking to ANI, DCP (crime) Amit Goel said, "The Crime Branch received secret information about a well-organised racket that was involved in illegal kidney transplants of Indian citizens. During the information development process and identification of victims of the syndicate, one lady complainant made a complaint against Sandeep and Vijay Kumar Kashyap, alias Sumit, alleging that they had cheated her husband with Rs 35 lakh on the pretext of a kidney transplant. On June 26, 2024, related characters were identified with the help of technical surveillance and multiple raids were conducted by various teams."
"Sandeep Arya, the kingpin is a resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh. He worked as Transplant Co-ordinator in various hospitals in Faridabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Indore and Vadodara. He used to contact patients and arrange kidney transplant in hospitals, where he had been posted as transplant coordinator. He used to take about Rs 35-40 Lakhs for each kidney transplant, which included hospital expense paid by patients, arrangement of donor, accommodation and other legal documentation required for surgery. He used to save Rs 7 to 8 lakhs from each Kidney Transplant. He is previously involved in a credit card cheating case of PS Shalimar Bagh, Delhi, " said the DCP.
During interrogation, it was revealed that, in an organised manner accused persons first used to take job in reputed hospitals as transplant co-coordinator. Thereafter, they used to identify the patients suffering from kidney disease and taking treatment from different hospitals in Delhi, Faridabad, Mohali, Panchkula, Agra, Indore and Gujarat. Accused persons used to contact donors from social media and took benefit of their poor financial background and exploited them on the pretext of providing Rs 5 to 6 lakhs rupees to give their kidney, said officials.
They prepared the forged documents of patients and donors to show them as close relative as this is one of the mandatory provision. In some cases, they fabricated documents and showed the donor and patient as resident of other state to get transplantation in different states hospital to avoid any doubt, said officials.
Based on forged documents, they had their preliminary medical examination and arranged to pass the scrutiny of the Transplant Authorization Committee in different hospitals. So far, it has been revealed that the syndicate had succeeded in Kidney Transplant in 11 hospitals in different states, stated officials.
So far, 34 cases of illegal Kidney Transplant have been identified. Further investigation into the matter is underway, they added.