HYDERABAD: After examining all possible angles, the police are desperately searching for a labourer Shankar to solve the sensational kidney theft case reported in the old city.

The labourer is a friend of B. Venkatesh, 48, who alleged that doctors removed one of his kidneys when he went to a hospital in the city for surgery a few months ago. Police believe this man had introduced the victim to the doctors.

Suspicions about the possible connivance of Shankar in the kidney theft case are gradually gaining ground. "We registered a theft case when the Chief Minister's office received Venkatesh's complaint in the third week of January. A week later Shankar disappeared," an investigating officer told The Hindu .

Doctor grilled

Initially the police did not take Shankar's disappearance seriously since suspicions centred on a doctor at Gulzar House. Police grilled the doctor but could not get any incriminating evidence. "We had some slips suggesting that Venkatesh visited the pathological laboratory of the doctor but the latter denied any involvement," sleuths said.

Meanwhile, the doctor alleged that the police, in the name of investigating the case, had subjected him to third degree methods of interrogation. Then police focussed their efforts on tracing a hospital that has rooms for patients on the fourth floor, through the windows of which a temple on a hillock can be seen, "because Venkatesh said he saw a temple on a hill from the hospital bed," detectives explained. But this clue too did not lead to anything.

Police say, now, the needle of suspicion points towards Shankar because he has gone underground for so many days. "He may not have any role in the kidney theft but has information about the surgery, doctors, the hospital where Venkatesh was operated," investigators say.

No clues

But tracing him, too, is becoming a gigantic task since he has no family and does not even have a permanent address. All that they know about Shankar is he used to go to a voluntary organisation that offers lunch for cheap rates near Lower Tank Bund. Recently, they stumbled upon a couple of persons who identify Shankar. They hope the duo can help trace Shankar and eventually solve the kidney theft case.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail