In Nalgonda kidney scam case, a Sri Lankan connection has emerged, after the police found that the main broker and other donors underwent illegal transplant surgeries in three different hospitals in Colombo in the last two years.
In December 2014, reportedly, the agent Kasparaju Suresh (22) travelled to Sri Lanka and sold his kidney. It was after that he had decided to turn as an agent for the racketeers.
Last year, he convinced at least 14 people from Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka to sell their kidneys.
All the Indian donors are sent to Nawaloak Hospital, Western Hospital, and Lankan Hospital, which are located in Colombo and the kidney surgery takes place in those places.
However, police said that, they were unaware of the surgeons working for the racket. Speaking on the issue, Nalgonda DSP, Sudhakar said, “Till now we could only catch hold of Sudhakar. He took Rs.50,000 commission for each donor. Earlier, he had sold his kidney for 5 lakh.”
After registering his name on ineedkidney.com, in November, 2014, he uploaded his phone number. Soon agents contacted him and he flew to Colombo the next month. After coming back, he learned the trick of the trade and became an agent,” DSP added.
On the whole, Suresh contacted four people from Nalgonda, four from Hyderabad, two from Tamil Nadu, and four from Bengaluru on behalf of the racket. Along with Suresh, few other donors were also caught by the police. A case was booked against Suresh, under the AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995.
Facebook as platform for Kidney scam
Though the AP Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1995, bans commercial donation, several people, including from Telangana, openly endorse commercial kidney donation online.
For such commercial kidney business, the racketeers are using many websites, Facebook pages and open groups on the social media.
The names of these pages might sound like charity organisations or dialysis clinics, and the descriptions might also suggest that it is legal to buy and sell organs. The racketeers use phrases like “in the name of god or humanity” and “save lives” to make it sound legit and charitable.
Once a donor, who is interested is added on the FB group, or signs up on the website, the rest of the formalities carries through the personal chats and phone calls. There are several Facebook pages that specifically target donors from the Telugu states.
Public posts on social media groups are replete with details, including names, ages, blood groups, email addresses, health statuses, and even phone numbers of donor and receivers.
There are even several testimonies like: “My name is Felicia Mike. I want to tell the world how Dr Johnson J. Francis made me rich by buying one of my kidneys. I was from a poor home, but today, we are rich with the grace of god. The hospital pays upfront money after meeting the requirement. Are you financially down? Then contact this number...”
Most donors’ posts indicate that they are desperately in need of money. Many say that they have debts and are ready to sell organ for less than `5 lakh. The online testimonies show that agents take Indian donors to countries like Nepal, Myanmar, Malaysia and Sri Lanka for the transplant surgery.
By Phani Ch
