Hyderabad: Two days after an illegal inter-state kidney trafficking racket was busted at a private hospital in Saroornagar, Rachakonda police arrested two persons late Thursday night.
The arrests came hours after family members of one of the accused, Dr G Sumanth, who runs Alakananda Hospital, moved a habeas corpus petition in Telangana high court. In response to the petition, police said on Friday that Dr Sumanth had already been arrested and sent to judicial remand.
The second arrest was that of a hospital staffer. The two have been booked under section 118 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) of BNS and violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. Police are expected to make more arrests on Saturday.
Dr Sumanth started Alakananda Hospital seven months ago, police said. “An agent named Laxman contacted Dr Avinash, a doctor at the hospital, and told him about two women, Nasreen Banu and Firdosh, who were willing to donate their kidneys as they were in dire need of money. Around the same time, another agent named Pradeep contacted the doctor about two people from Karnataka who were in need of kidneys,” a police officer said.
According to police, it was Dr Sumanth who allegedly gave Dr Avinash the go-ahead to perform the transplant at Alakananda Hospital on Jan 17.
Police are now unravelling the racket’s network spread across various states. “We need to find out for how long the agents were involved in the supply of organs and where all the illegal transplants were performed,” the officer added.
The racket initially came to light after the DM&HO’s office in Ranga Reddy received a tip-off about an illegal nephrology surgery and went to the hospital to confirm it. When they found that the tip-off was genuine, they lodged a police complaint.
The arrests came hours after family members of one of the accused, Dr G Sumanth, who runs Alakananda Hospital, moved a habeas corpus petition in Telangana high court. In response to the petition, police said on Friday that Dr Sumanth had already been arrested and sent to judicial remand.
The second arrest was that of a hospital staffer. The two have been booked under section 118 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons) of BNS and violation of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. Police are expected to make more arrests on Saturday.
Dr Sumanth started Alakananda Hospital seven months ago, police said. “An agent named Laxman contacted Dr Avinash, a doctor at the hospital, and told him about two women, Nasreen Banu and Firdosh, who were willing to donate their kidneys as they were in dire need of money. Around the same time, another agent named Pradeep contacted the doctor about two people from Karnataka who were in need of kidneys,” a police officer said.
According to police, it was Dr Sumanth who allegedly gave Dr Avinash the go-ahead to perform the transplant at Alakananda Hospital on Jan 17.
Police are now unravelling the racket’s network spread across various states. “We need to find out for how long the agents were involved in the supply of organs and where all the illegal transplants were performed,” the officer added.
The racket initially came to light after the DM&HO’s office in Ranga Reddy received a tip-off about an illegal nephrology surgery and went to the hospital to confirm it. When they found that the tip-off was genuine, they lodged a police complaint.
