Interstate kidney transplant racket busted

Samad Hoque

New Delhi, July 19

The Delhi Police’s Crime Branch unit busted an interstate kidney transplant racket, arresting the kingpin along with 15 members of the syndicate, police officials said on Friday.

Charged Rs 35-40 Lakh per patient

• The kingpin, Sandeep Arya, is an MBA graduate in public health and has worked as a transplant coordinator in various hospitals in Faridabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Indore and Vadodara.
• Arya used to contact patients and arrange kidney transplants in hospitals where he had been posted as a transplant coordinator
• He charged around Rs 35-40 lakh for each kidney transplant, which included hospital expenses paid by patients, arrangement of donors, accommodation and other legal documentation required for surgery

However, the police said they have not been able to find any incriminating evidence against any hospital.

The kingpin, Sandeep Arya, is an MBA graduate in public health and has worked as a transplant coordinator in various hospitals in Faridabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Indore and Vadodara.

The police said Arya used to contact patients and arrange kidney transplants in hospitals where he had been posted as a transplant coordinator. He charged around Rs 35-40 lakh for each kidney transplant, which included hospital expenses paid by patients, arrangement of donors, accommodation and other legal documentation required for surgery, they said.

“He used to save Rs 7-8 lakh from each transplant. Arya has previously been involved in a credit card cheating case registered at the Shalimar Bagh police station in Delhi,” the police added.

The crime branch had received a secret information in June about a well-organised kidney transplant racket being run in the Delhi-NCR region. During the process of gathering information, the police identified a female complainant who had filed a complaint against Arya and Sumit, alias Vijay Kumar Kashyap, stating that they had cheated her husband of Rs 35 lakh on the pretext of a kidney transplant.

On June 26, the police arrested Sumit, a resident of Lucknow, from Noida and found a number of fabricated papers, stamp seals and patient and donor files in his possession. A case was then registered under relevant sections of the law. Further, on June 28, Arya and Devender, both residents of Uttarakhand, were arrested from a five-star hotel in Goa.

Deputy Commissioner of Police, Crime Branch, Amit Goel, said, “The racket functioned in an organised manner as the accused used to first take jobs in reputed hospitals as transplant coordinators and then learn the process being adopted by the hospitals for the transplant.”

The DCP said their modus operandi involved identifying patients suffering from kidney diseases who were undergoing treatment at various hospitals in Delhi, Faridabad, Mohali, Panchkula, Agra, Indore and Gujarat. They targeted patients from financially poor backgrounds.

“The accused used to contact or arrange donors through social media and exploited them by promising Rs 5 to 6 lakh in exchange for their kidney,” an official said. The officials explained that they prepared forged documents to falsely present donors or patients as close relatives, a mandatory requirement for the transplant.

In some cases, they fabricated documents to show the donor and patient as residents of other states, enabling the transplants to be carried out in different states to avoid suspicion. “Based on these forged documents, they conducted preliminary medical examination and arranged additional documentation to pass the scrutiny of the Transplant Authorisation Committee in various hospitals,” the official added.

The DCP revealed that the syndicate had successfully carried out 34 kidney transplants across 11 hospitals in different states. The police have also arrested additional members of the syndicate — Punit Kumar, Md Hanif Shaikh, Cheeka Prashanth, Tej Prakash and Rohit Khanna, alias Narender.

The Crime Branch identified five patients who underwent kidney transplants through the syndicate and two donors. Legal action has been initiated against them.

Devender, who studied up to Class X and is Arya’s brother-in-law, provided his account to Arya in which Rs 7 lakh was received from the complainant’s husband. “His role was to assist Arya and receive payments under his direction, earning a commission of Rs 50,000 per case,” officials said.

Sumit, Shaikh, Prashanth and Tej Prakash had initially come into contact with Arya either to donate their kidneys or to get a transplant for a family member. Sumit, a graduate, donated his kidney for money and later collaborated with Arya. He also received a commission of Rs 50,000 per case. His role included grooming donors to match the lifestyle and background of the patients and facilitating them before surgery.

Puneet from Agra had a degree in hospital management and worked in seven reputed hospitals across different states.

He prepared fake documents to prove relationships between patients and donors as directed by Arya, earning a commission between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh. At present, he was working as a transplant coordinator at a hospital in Agra.

Shaikh, a Mumbai resident and tailor by profession, contacted Arya through a Facebook page and donated his kidney for money. Subsequently, he began working for Arya, providing patients or donors and earning Rs 5 lakh to Rs 11 lakh per case.

Prashanth from Hyderabad donated his kidney through Arya and later joined him. Arya arranged for his training in Indore, helping him secure a job as a transplant coordinator in a Delhi hospital using fake papers. With Prashanth’s help, Arya completed three transplants. Further, they submitted a file for the complainant’s husband with a donor posing as a father and daughter. However, the complainant’s husband passed away. Prashanth earned Rs 1 lakh per case.

Tej Prakash, a Delhi resident, got a kidney transplant for his wife through Arya in Mohali and later provided patients to Arya, earning Rs 5 lakh per patient.

Rohit Khanna, also a Delhi resident, sourced kidney donor contacts through various social media platforms and kidney treatment groups. He had 26 email IDs, several social media pages and was a member of 112 kidney-treatment groups. He was the main supplier of donors to the syndicate.

The police recovered 34 stamps of various officers from different states, six forged files of kidney patients and donors, blank documents from various laboratories and hospitals for preparing forged documents, material for making stamps, two laptops containing incriminating data and records of kidney transplants, 17 mobile phones, nine SIM cards, Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and Arya’s Mercedes car used for influencing patients.