A senior nephrologist has been named in the investigation of the kidney racket busted in Delhi’s Apollo Hospital last week. It is suspected that a few kidney transplants facilitated by the racketeers, were conducted by the doctor.
There is no evidence yet against him but the roles of his personal secretaries are under the scanner, an official privy to the investigation said.
It has also emerged that some of the recipients who procured kidneys from the racket had used forged documents to hide their addresses.
The police has short-listed the names of three senior doctors from the hospital’s in-house assessment committee for verifying documents related to transplants, the official said. The three of them are likely to be questioned first as they had cleared the papers in connection with the surgeries.
Meanwhile, two particular donors associated with the racket are likely to be arrested, the official said.
The Delhi Police teams which were sent across cities to nab the racket’s kingpin, Rajukumar Rao, who is believed to be associated with similar rackets in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Indonesia, are likely to return on Wednesday.
Suspecting the involvement of some senior staffers and even doctors in the racket, Delhi Police has served notices under CrPC sections 90 and 160 to the higher authorities of Apollo Hospital asking them to join the probe and provide documents pertaining to kidney transplants carried out in the hospital in the past few months.
The documents will be scrutinised by a 25-member special team set up to crack the entire nexus, the senior official said. Two more prominent private hospitals in the city have come under the police scanner.
With the arrest of five persons, including the personal secretaries of a senior nephrologist in Apollo Hospital, police had earlier unearthed the kidney trading racket. The racket used to lure poor people across several states to sell their kidney off and also look for people desperately looking for a kidney transplant.
The hospital said they were victim to a well-orchestrated operation.
We are cooperating and providing the police all information required to help in the investigation. This matter is of grave concern and our teams are extending all support to the police.Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in a statement.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)
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