Date:08/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/08/stories/2008020857610100.htm

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Kidney racket kingpin arrested

Ameet Dhakalhttp://www.hindu.com/2008/02/08/stories/2008020859121000.htm

He was in a Nepal town hotel with accomplice

Kathmandu: The alleged kingpin in a multi-crore kidney transplant racket in India, Dr. Amit Kumar, was nabbed near a town in southern Nepal on Thursday.

Nepal’s State Minister for Home Ram Kumar Choudhary confirmed the arrest.

A senior police officer told The Hindu that Dr. Kumar was arrested from a hotel in Saurah, a small town outside the Chitwan National Park. Birjung, Nepal’s southern gateway to India, is about 100 km from Saurah.

Dr. Kumar, dubbed “Dr. Horror,” had lots of foreign and Nepalese currencies in his possession at the time of the arrest, the officer said, adding that the doctor would be brought here on Friday from Hetauda, where he is now under detention.

Interpol notice

PTI reports:

Nepalese media, quoting sources, said Dr. Kumar and a Nepali associate, Manish Singh, checked into a room of Hotel Wildlife Camp around 10 a.m. under Singh’s name.

Soon they asked for a copy of The Himalayan Times, which had front-paged a report on the kidney racket and about the presence of the main accused in Nepal. The sources said Dr. Kumar returned the paper after keeping a clipping of the story.

Eyewitnesses said he was sporting a hat and sunglasses. When a police team came in and started making enquiries, Singh ran away. The team rushed to the room and formally arrested Dr. Kumar. He apparently did not resist when he was handcuffed, they said.

The doctor, who is believed to have conducted over 500 illegal operations in a decade, was wanted by police in Haryana and some other States.

An Interpol Red Corner Notice was issued against him and his brother Jeevan on February 1 after the racket, having inter-State and international ramifications, came to light on January 24.

Six people have been arrested in India over the scandal. The men behind the illegal operation are believed to have charged up to $ 50,000 for a kidney from clients from across the globe, police said.

The kidneys are believed to have come from poor migrant workers, some of whom said they were kidnapped and drugged – although police said the illegal donors were likely to have been paid around Rs. 40,000.

Under the law, kidney transplants are allowed only if the organ is donated by a blood relative or spouse, or there is a swap agreement between two needy families. All transplants must also be cleared by the government.

The Indian Embassy officials here said that normally the Nepali authorities should inform the mission if an Indian is arrested. “We are yet to receive any information,” initial reports quoting the officials said.

Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal hoped that the doctor would be quickly sent to India.