Vadodara: Police in Gujarat’s Anand town have formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe an alleged organ racket involving a New Delhi hospital.
Around 80 resident of a village have reportedly sold their kidneys to the unidentified hospital in the past few months.
Acting on information received from locals, Anand Superintendent of Police Ashok Kumar Yadav formed an SIT comprising the local police and crime branch officials.
According to the police, the racket came to light after local people tipped them off that several poor villagers of Pandoli have “donated” their kidneys for money.
“When our team visited the village, a 25-year-old man said he had been taken to Delhi and operated. He said he was paid 250,000 rupees in exchange for his one kidney. He does not know the name of the hospital. We have formed an SIT to probe the case and deputed a medical team from the health department to find out the numbers of persons fallen victim to the racket,” Yadav told reporters.
The police official said at least three more people have told them that they have “donated” their kidneys and furnished documents in support of their claim. A police team would record statements of the villagers to ascertain if the kidney “donations” are part of a bigger racket.
“Most people in the village are daily wage laborers. A man has recorded his statement and on the basis of his statement we have filed an FIR. The man said he was in dire straits and made the decision for financial reasons,” Yadav told The Indian Express.