Date:31/01/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/01/31/stories/2008013160081200.htm

National

More arrests in kidney racket case

Ashok Kumar

GURGAON: Even as speculation over alleged kidney racket kingpin Amit Kumar having escaped to Canada was rife on Wednesday, the Gurgaon police arrested his driver Umesh and his brother’s wife Pooja.

Pooja and her parents R. K. Singal and Manju Singal had been detained a day earlier for questioning in the multi-crore organ transplant racket that by all accounts had been running across several States for well over a decade now. Her parents were let off after the interrogation on Wednesday but Pooja was arrested.

“Pooja and Umesh were produced before a court in Gurgaon which remanded them to police custody till February 6,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Gurgaon) Manjit Ahlawat at a press conference here.

The police had sought 14 days’ remand for both the accused arguing that the two had collected money on behalf of prime accused Amit Kumar and formed part of the mammoth transplant racket. However, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Surya Pratap Singh remanded them to police custody till February 6.

Pooja purportedly had told the police that her husband Jeevan Kumar and brother-in-law Amit Kumar did not possess MBBS degrees but carried out the surgical operations.

The police doubt whether the brothers were even qualified as Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS).

Giving details of the police action, Mr. Ahlawat said more searches were being carried out in Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi to seek more information about the accused. “The scale of the racket could be much bigger than what has been estimated till now,” he added.

The local court also issued arrest warrants against Amit Kumar and Jeevan Kumar amid intense speculation that the two brothers might have escaped to Canada.

The speculation is fuelled by the fact that Amit owns property in Canada.