Uttarakhand kidney racket may have international links; lookout notice against seven accused

Dehradun: The Uttarakhand Police on Tuesday issuing lookout notices against seven people, including doctors, allegedly involved in the kidney transplant racket in Dehradun. The police also set up a special team to look into the case after it emerged that it may have international links. Police sources said that illegally removed kidneys at the Gangotri Charitable Hospital were being transplanted to affluent people from Gulf countries like Oman in return for hefty sums of money. Uttarakhand DGP Anil Raturi admitted the possibility of the racket having international links but said the investigations are still underway and a clear picture will emerge only after their conclusion. A special team headed by SP (Rural) Sarita Dobhal has been constituted to look into the case in view of its seriousness, the DGP said. Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti said lookout notices have been issued against a total of seven persons including two doctors of the hospital and the man who ran the facility after taking it on lease. [caption id=“attachment_3843887” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. PTI[/caption] The lookout notices have been sent to all airports so that the accused are not able to flee the country, the SSP said. One person has been arrested in connection with the case so far but police teams have been dispatched to several places to nab hospital staff and other people who could be involved in the racket. Preliminary investigations have revealed that one Dr Amit and his son were running the racket, DGP Raturi said. The role of the hospital owner who had given it on lease to the accused is also being investigated, Raturi said. After the racket was unearthed yesterday, police swiftly arrested a mediator named Javed, who hails from Mumbai, from the forests surrounding Lal Tappad. Javed was involved in negotiating the deal with the alleged donors on behalf of the hospital. The racket was unearthed when two persons from Kolkata, whose kidneys (one each) had been removed at the hospital, were being packed off to Delhi, without being paid the amount they had been promised. The two people whose kidneys were removed were Krishna Das and Sheikh Taj Ali. Two other persons — Sushma from Kolkata and Mauji Bhai from Gujarat — were waiting at the hospital for their kidneys to be removed in return for money. However, the police came to know about the racket before they could be operated upon, the SSP said.