Kanpur kidney transplant racket: Cops arrest mastermind, an intermediate pass who posed as doctor
_vb_67.jpeg)
Kanpur (PTI): In a breakthrough in the probe into an illegal kidney transplant racket here, police on Monday arrested Rohit, the alleged mastermind who had been evading arrest for the last two weeks.
Rohit, an intermediate pass who used to pose as a doctor, was picked up from Kanpur. He had reportedly travelled to Goa, Kathmandu, Manali and Shimla to avoid arrest, Commissioner Raghubir Lal told PTI.
With his arrest, the total number of accused in custody has risen to 10.
"Rohit used a stethoscope and an apron to pose himself as a qualified doctor. Photographs recovered from his phone show him inside operating theatres alongside medical professionals. Rohit initially tried to mislead investigators, but later confessed to his crime. He admitted that he was paid Rs 18 lakh per transplant, which he distributed among syndicate members while keeping a cut for himself," the commissioner said.
Rohit carried a reward of Rs 25,000 on his arrest.
The racket was busted on March 30 after police and health officials raided multiple facilities at Rawatpur and Kalyanpur in Kanpur, including Ahuja, Med-Life and Priya hospitals.
The crackdown followed a complaint by a donor: Ayush, an MBA student from Begusarai, approached police alleging that he was paid only Rs 3.5 lakh against a promised Rs 10 lakh for his kidney.
Earlier, five doctors and Ahuja Hospital owners Dr Preeti Ahuja and Dr Surjeet Singh Ahuja were arrested along with operation theatre technicians and an ambulance driver, Shivam Agarwal, who was a key link between doctors, donors and recipients.
Police said the technicians played a crucial role in arranging equipment and assisting in surgeries.
The probe has widened now, with police suspecting a multi-state and possibly international organ trafficking network involving private hospitals, middlemen and unqualified individuals.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) S M Qasim Abidi said fresh leads have emerged, and further disclosures are expected.
A search is on to nab two other accused -- Afzal and Narendra -- and to uncover the full extent of the network, officials said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
