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‘Dr Horror’ in CBI custody till Feb 22
Tribune News Service & IANS

New Delhi, February 10
On the demand of the CBI, a New Delhi court today remanded Amit Kumar till February 22 for his alleged involvement in the multi-million-rupee kidney racket. After being arrested in Nepal, 40-year-old Amit Kumar was produced at the residence of chief metropolitan magistrate Sanjeev Jain, who sent him to custodial remand.

The CBI sought the custody of the ayurvedic doctor, whom the Nepal government handed over to India on Saturday evening, to conduct “thorough investigation” into the racket involving about 600 illegal kidney transplants.

In the hearing that lasted for about half an hour, the CBI contended that Amit Kumar’s interrogation would reveal the trail of millions of rupees involved in the decade-old racket.

On February 22 the accused would be produced before CBI’s special court in Ambala.

Dubbed as “Dr Horror”, Amit Kumar was brought at the magistrate’s residence around 1.30 pm as a battery of mediapersons waited for him at the Tis Hazari court complex here.

Amid high security, the accused was kept away from the media while he was driven down to the judge’s house in Gulabi Bagh in north Delhi.

CBI sources said the area around the magistrate’s residence was cordoned off and no one was allowed within a 100-metre range.

The media was kept guessing about Amit Kumar’s movements as the CBI made every effort to maintain secrecy. Security at the premises of the Tis Hazari court was also beefed up, misleading the media.

After bringing him from Kathmandu to Delhi late Saturday, CBI sleuths grilled him overnight at the agency’s headquarters, according to sources.

Amit has been booked under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act under which a person can face a jail term up to 10 years. He has been charged under various serious Sections of the IPC that include Sections 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapon), 420 (cheating), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 120-B (criminal conspiracy).

The accused was arrested from a resort in Nepal from where he was deported to India.

Amit earned 200 pc profit per transplant

Kathmandu, February 10
Before he was caught, Indian kidney racket kingpin Amit Kumar Raut lived life kingsize, thanks to the nearly 200 per cent profit he gained per illegal transplant, according to his reported admission to the Nepal police.

He also denied having any links with the underworld or doing anything illegal.

"I am a doctor by profession," the unshaken 43-year-old, who holds just a diploma in ayurveda and is not a qualified doctor, told the police after being arrested in south Nepal Thursday.

"I did people a service (through the transplants). I ran the Star Max Life Care Hospital in Gurgaon in Haryana ," Amit Kumar told the police in his statement, a news report said on Saturday.

"Transplanting kidneys is my main business. I have been doing this for 15 years." According to the Nepali tabloid Naya Patrika, Amit Kumar told the Metropolitan police's crime division, which began interrogating him afresh on Friday, that patients from the US, Canada and European countries used to come to his clinic for transplants.

"I have conducted about 3,000 transplants for patients from these countries," Amit Kumar reportedly told the police.

He said there were legal complications about kidney transplants. Several states had tight laws preventing such acts. "In Haryana, the laws are slightly more lenient, which is why I opened my hospital there," he reportedly said.

Amit Kumar is said to have told the police that he used to charge per kidney recipient Rs 300,000-400,000 for a transplant. "The poor and unemployed in India are interested in donating their kidneys," the tabloid quoted him as saying to the police. "I used to pay the donors Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000." However, Amit Kumar insisted that he had not done anything wrong.

"I did not force anyone to donate their kidneys," he said. "I did not dupe anyone. The kidneys were extracted with the consent of the donors. Therefore, it was not a crime."

"The sellers were poor Indians and buyers rich foreigners. I acted as the go-between and did people a service. I took money only after offering my services, it can't be construed as robbery." Amit Kumar rejected the allegations that he had links with the underworld. — IANS

Woman finds kidney missing, doc held

Azamgarh, February 10
A woman doctor was arrested after a patient found a kidney missing during tests here. Dr Shabana was arrested yesterday, while the prime accused, Dr Kamran, is still at large, sources said.

Haseena Khatun of South Tola had a stone in her stomach. She got the problem operated on on December 8, 2007, at a private hospital.

Since surgery, Haseena's health started deteriorating, after which she went for an ultrasound test.

The tests revealed that she had only one kidney, sources added. Meanwhile, Mau's district magistrate P. Guruprasad has handed over the probe into the matter to chief medical officer Ramanuj. — UNI