M A I N   N E W S

Kidney racket agent at large
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 15
While the state police is claiming success in the busting of the kidney racket in Amritsar, one of the alleged main agents in the racket, active in north India, especially Ludhiana and adjoining areas, has again given the police a slip, courtesy his alleged patronage by some policemen and politicians.

Going by a telephonic conversation of The Tribune with allegedly one of the best-organised agents in the trade, Amritpal Singh, last evening, it seems that he is still busy arranging kidney donors even as investigations are on.

The agent, known as a master of disguise, is wanted in several kidney racket cases by the Ludhiana police since September, 2001. Despite being active in the city, he has remained scot-free. He is also tipped to be one of the main agents in kidney transplants in Amritsar, but continues to evade arrest. With 458 kidney transplant operations conducted in Ludhiana, the city is second to Amritsar (1,922).

Available on one of his five mobile phones till last evening, Amritpal has gone incommunicado today. The Ludhiana police has failed to track him down all these months despite having his mobile phone numbers, descriptions of his various appearances and details of his contacts doing business outside city hospitals. The police also knows that he changes his numbers frequently and gets the new numbers.

Acting as a decoy customer, this correspondent contacted him on one of his mobile phones last evening. You have to address him as Rajasthaniji, as tipped off by a source. He first made some queries about how his number was taken. When told it was taken from a person doing some business near a city hospital, Amritpal Rajasthani enquired about the blood group and where the patient was.

“We have to be very careful these days. The police is looking for us, you know,” he said, demanding that he would check the details of the patient and meet him personally before going ahead. He said he had got my number on his mobile phone and would contact tomorrow afternoon. However, today all his mobiles were switched off.

Information revealed that his main targets were labourers from Bihar and Nepal. Amritpal had close friends among politicians and policemen. One SHO posted in the Ludhiana police allegedly used to take money regularly from him. This police official was the first to nab him about four years ago. He did not register a case and took Rs 2 lakh from the agent. Their relationship grew and police patronage did wonders to his business. Several politicians also helped Amritpal and got kidney donors for their relatives.