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Kidney racket: 5 doctors among 6 convicted
PK Jaiswar
Tribune News Service

Amritsar, November 2
The court of Additional Sessions Judge GS Bakshi today convicted six persons, including five doctors, in one of the cases surrounding the infamous 2002 Amritsar kidney racket.

The quantum of sentence would be announced on November 8. The accused were arrested and sent to jail soon after their conviction.

This is the first major conviction since the racket was unearthed by the then Superintendent of Police (City) Kunwar Vijay Partap Singh.

The case pertains to Bagicha Singh (17), a resident of Jagraon, whose kidney was transplanted to a Chandigarh-based inspector, Suresh Kumar Sharma. He later died in a road accident under mysterious circumstances. Bagicha was picked up by a middleman, Baljit Singh, alias Vicky, from the Golden Temple complex in 2002 on the pretext of giving him driving lessons.

He was taken to the inspector’s house in Chandigarh where he was lured with money for “donating” his kidney. Upon refusal, the victim was threatened and forced to donate his kidney.

Using a fake ID, Bagicha was produced as Raju, son of Ajit Kumar, a resident of Link Colony, Jalandhar, before the authorisation committee headed by the then principal of Government Medical College, Dr OP Mahajan, for sanction.

The affidavit submitted for permission for transplant pointed out that Raju had been living with Suresh Kumar for 10 years as a domestic help and that he was donating kidney out of love and affection and on humanitarian grounds without any consideration. Besides Suresh Kumar and Dr OP Mahajan, those convicted include Dr Jagdish Gargi, the then head of Forensic Department (who was also a member of the authorisation committee), and Dr HS Bhutani, Dr Harjinder Singh and Dr SPS Grover, all doctors of New Ruby Hospital in Jalandhar.

Middleman Baljit Singh was convicted in the case six months ago, said Deputy District Attorney RK Salwan.

Salwan said Dr Mahajan and Dr Gargi had got bail in 2002 while the remaining Jalandhar-based doctors were released on bail in 2005. Suresh Kumar got bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in 2002.

Two more cases in connection with the kidney racket were pending in the court.

The background

The case pertains to the transplant of kidney to a Chandigarh-based inspector, Suresh Kumar Sharma, in 2002

The donor was picked up by a middleman from the Golden Temple complex and taken to the inspector’s house in Chandigarh

The donor was shown as a domestic help before the authorisation committee, headed by Government Medical College’s then principal Dr OP Mahajan, for sanction