KANPUR: Police on Tuesday claimed to have uncovered an alleged illegal kidney transplant racket operating through private hospitals in the city and arrested six people, including a doctor couple, three other doctors and an ambulance operator.Commissioner of Police Raghubir Lal said the racket appeared to have links extending beyond Kanpur to Lucknow, Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Nepal.Preliminary investigation suggests that around 40 to 50 kidney transplants may have been carried out through the network in different private hospitals in the city, he said.The arrests were made late Monday night after a complaint by an MBA student who alleged that his kidney was bought for Rs 10 lakh and sold onward to a patient for Rs 60 lakh.He told police he was paid Rs 50,000 less than the promised amount, triggering a dispute that brought the matter to light.Police said a joint team comprising officials from the Chief Medical Officer’s office, the surveillance and crime unit of DCP West, and personnel from Kalyanpur and Rawatpur police stations raided three hospitals — Ahuja Hospital, Priya Hospital and Med Life Hospital — after receiving the complaint and intelligence inputs.According to the police commissioner, the investigation revealed that poor and vulnerable people were allegedly being targeted, their kidneys removed by exploiting financial distress, and then sold for large sums.During the raids, police found the donor and recipient admitted at Med Life Hospital.When officials sought documents related to the transplant procedure, the hospital allegedly failed to produce valid records.Those arrested were identified as Dr Surjit Singh Ahuja, 54, his wife Dr Preeti Ahuja, 50, Dr Rajesh Kumar, 44, Dr Ram Prakash, 40, Dr Narendra Singh, 35, and ambulance operator Shivam Agrawal, 32.Police said all were taken into custody from hospitals in the Kalyanpur-Rawatpur area.A large quantity of medicines and about Rs 1.75 lakh in cash were recovered, police said.An FIR has been registered at Rawatpur police station under Sections 18, 19 and 20 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994, and Section 143/3(5) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Police said four more doctors are suspected to be involved and raids are continuing to trace them. During questioning, the donor, identified as Ayush, told investigators he was originally from Samastipur in Bihar and currently lived in Meerut.He alleged that Shivam Agrawal, also known as Shivam Kada, contacted him through a Telegram group and called him to Kanpur, where the deal was finalised at an apartment in Awas Vikas-3, Kalyanpur.Police said the kidney transplant of a woman identified as Parul Tomar from Muzaffarnagar was carried out at Ahuja Hospital on Sunday.Investigators alleged that Rs 60 lakh was taken from her family, while Ayush received only Rs 9.5 lakh.After learning that police had been informed, the hospital management allegedly shifted Ayush to Med Life Hospital and Parul Tomar to Priya Hospital. Ayush’s condition later worsened and he was moved to Hallet Hospital, police said.Additional chief medical officer Dr Ramit Rastogi said notices had been issued to the three hospitals, seeking replies to 10 questions, including how the transplant patients came to be admitted there. He said action to cancel their licences would be considered after their responses are examined.
