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Kerala kidney racket: HC moved for probe

By Our Staff Reporter

Kochi Dec. 10. The Kerala High Court on Tuesday issued notice to the Director, CBI and other respondents on a writ petition seeking a CBI inquiry into the kidney sale racket in the State.

Justice N. Krishnan Nair issued notice to the respondents while admitting the petition filed by P.M. Mohanan, one of the victims of the racket.

The other respondents who were issued notice include Chairman, Authorisation Committee of the Medical College Hospital, Kozhikode; director, Indian Medical Council (IMA), directors of the Kozhikode-based National Hospital and the Baby Memorial Hospital and Robin George and Indira, consultant nephrologist and gynaecologist respectively of the National Hospital.

The petition seeking to implead Mohammed Ali, former IMA president, and P.T. George, present IMA president, will be considered after returning the notice.

According to the petitioner, touts, offering a huge amount, had lured him into donating one of his kidneys. However, after the transplantation, he was not paid the promised money.

He alleged that a racket was operating mainly in the Adivasi belt. It was because of the persisting compulsion and also the threat of the doctor concerned that he was given in to undergo the operation. Though the issue was brought to the attention of various authorities, no action had been taken by them to stop the racket.

The Kozhikode-based hospitals were involved in transplanting kidneys from the illiterate and innocent people without their consent or knowledge, he alleged.

In an affidavit, the State Government stated that the inquiry report of the Investigation Officer, K. Sukumara Kurup, Deputy Superintendent of Police, had said that the transplantations were done at the hospitals with proper records. Even though the Authorisation Committee was rejecting certain cases, the agents made forged documents and a number of such cases were given permits for transplantation. In many cases, touts received a huge amount by cheating the poor donors.

It was also pointed out that touts who received huge amounts entrapped poor donors. As a result of ignorance, the poor donors who were in debt trap donated kidney for money.

The affidavit said the inquiry so far made had revealed that the touts, Sajeevan alias Reji Narayanan of Kozhikode and Dinesh Kumar alias Viswan of Thrissur, had extracted money from donors and the recipients of kidney and used forged documents for presenting before the Authorisation Committee.

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