Indian police arrest kidney racket ‘leader’

AFP, NEW DELHI: Indian police said Wednesday they have arrested the suspected leader of an illegal organ donation racket run out of one of the country’s top hospitals.
T Rajkumar Rao was arrested in the eastern city of Kolkata late Tuesday on suspicion of leading a criminal gang that lured poor people to sell their kidneys, which were sold on for huge profits.
The commercial trade of organs is illegal in India and the gang forged documents to pretend the donors were relatives of transplant patients in order to undergo the operations at the Apollo hospital.
“He (Rao) was arrested from Kolkata,” police investigator Nidhin Walson told AFP in New Delhi.
An officer in Kolkata said Rao was wanted in a number of such cases across several South Asian countries.
On Tuesday police arrested three donors including a couple who sold their kidneys for a combined 700,000 rupees (US $10,500) to pay off a loan they took out to cover the cost of their son’s medical treatment.
Five staff at the Apollo hospital have also been arrested.

Indian police arrest kidney racket leader

AFP, NEW DELHI: Indian police said Wednesday they have arrested the suspected leader of an illegal organ donation racket run out of one of the countrys top hospitals. T Rajkumar Rao was arrested in the eastern city of Kolkata late Tuesday on suspicion of leading a criminal gang that lured poor people to sell their kidneys, which were sold on for huge profits. The commercial trade of organs is illegal in India and the gang forged documents to pretend the donors were relatives of transplant patients in order to undergo the operations at the Apollo hospital. He (Rao) was arrested from Kolkata, police investigator Nidhin Walson told AFP in New Delhi. An officer in Kolkata said Rao was wanted in a number of such cases across several South Asian countries. On Tuesday police arrested three donors including a couple who sold their kidneys for a combined 700,000 rupees (US $10,500) to pay off a loan they took out to cover the cost of their sons medical treatment. Five staff at the Apollo hospital have also been arrested.