The Kingpin

Santosh Rameshwar Raut, alias Amit Kumar, the alleged mastermind behind the kidney transplant racket, had many identities. Each time he was nabbed, he changed his identity before resurfacing. Nabbing him was difficult as he moved around and operated under false identities and procured fake passports. Small wonder that the rarely used red alert has been issued by the Interpol for him.

An associate of Amit said he was always passionate about money and glamorous girls. That was why he invested money in a few C-grade ventures like Khooni Raat more than 15 years ago and owned a production company, which his brother ran. Amit’s long-time associate Linda, arrested by the Gurgaon police, revealed how he hired beautiful young women as part of a smooth, glib-talking strategy to persuade unsuspecting kidney donors. He became a notorious and hounded medico as early as 1993. That, however, did not deter the freedom fighter’s son from amassing a fortune. A carefully constructed, formidable network shielded Amit from the law and prevented the police from nabbing him.

This graduate of ayurvedic medicine from Akola, near Nagpur, was first arrested in 1993 in a raid by the Mumbai police on Kaushalya clinic in Khar, northwest Mumbai.

During his association with Kaushalya clinic, the police reckon, Amit carried out over 300 kidney transplants that roughly worked out to Rs 4.5 crore. In August 1994, the Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch raided the clinic again following complaints of Amit’s involvement in a thriving kidney transplant racket. The raids followed complaints by three poor labourers from Hyderabad of being cheated by Amit. He had promised Rs 60,000 each for a kidney, but shortchanged them. "He secured bail and was back to his practice.

Barely two months later, his premises were again raided by the police in a separate case," recalls a police official. Following this raid, alarm bells began to ring. One patient, who had undergone a kidney transplant, did not get the obligatory post-operative care and died in the clinic. Amit ran a private consultation clinic in Khar before joining the Kaushalya clinic where he networked with scores of foreign patients in need of kidneys. His brothers Jeewan and Ganesh assisted him. They were not medically qualified but probably acted as agents to procure gullible kidney donors and needy patients. He was once again released on bail. At the first available opportunity, Amit jumped bail and disappeared. He surfaced in Turkey around 1995-96 and returned to India a couple of years later.

The Delhi police had arrested Amit in 2001 after a case of illegal kidney transplant was registered against him at the Nizamuddin police station. A year later, a similar case was registered against him and an associate in Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh. A few years down the line, Amit shifted his base to Gurgaon. Amit along with his brother Jeewan and accomplices, Upendra Aggarwal and Saraj Kumar, formed a well-oiled ring by including drivers and servants who worked as agents.

Amit’s father Rameshwar Raut, now 93 years old, has disowned his son after he brought disgrace to the family. "I had a misunderstanding with him and we have parted ways. Everyone in my village knows about my integrity. I am a freedom fighter and everybody knows this. He has made a mistake and put me to shame. One should never lie come what may. He was a big liar."

It is believed that Amit and his brothers are worth approximately Rs 1000 crore. Nobody knows where the trio could have stashed such huge funds. Amit uses at least six fake identities and had last year bought the house along with his wife in Brampton on the outskirts of Toronto. The $610,000 mansion was financed by the Royal Bank of Canada. Despite being on the run, Amit paid the loan instalment on it.

The racket was extremely organised, secretive and tight-knit. It involved touts ranging from doctors in prestigious hospitals to cabbies and travel agents. This cloak of secrecy and deception allowed Amit to thrive for nearly 15 years