The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Kidney racket: were culprits involved in earlier scam?

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Thursday, Aug 16, 2007
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Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Kidney racket: were culprits involved in earlier scam?

K.V. Subramanya

One of the accused in the present case hails from Cauverynagar

BANGALORE: The police suspect that the persons involved in the kidney trade racket busted by the Nelamangala police of Bangalore Rural district on Sunday could be connected to a similar scam that was unearthed by the Mandya police in January 2002.

According to sources in the police, investigations by the Mandya police had revealed that a large number of people from Cauverynagar in 2nd Stage, Banashankari, Bangalore, had sold their kidneys. The agents in that racket had created fake documents to facilitate the sale of kidneys by the residents of Cauverynagar slum.

During interrogation, the three men, who had been arrested by the Nelamangala police, revealed that Kasim of Cauverynagar was one of the important persons in their racket, the sources told The Hindu on Wednesday.

The police were on the lookout for Kasim, who is said to be a close associate of the Hotte Nagaraj of Lakkasandra here, suspected to be the kingpin of the racket.

Investigations were on to ascertain his links with those arrested earlier by the Mandya police, the sources said.

In both the cases, the racketeers have adopted the same modus operandi — creating fake documents and tutoring the donors and recipients how to face the Authorisation Committee — in ensuring kidney transplantations, the s ources said. The Mandya police, who had investigated the racket under the guidance of the then Mandya Superintendent of Police Amar Kumar Pandey, had found that nearly 45 people from Holalu village alone in their district had sold their kidneys.

The Bangalore police were awaiting official orders from the authorities concerned to take over the investigations into the Nelamangala case.

The State Government on Tuesday announced that Bangalore’s Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Gopal B. Hosur would supervise the investigations.

Lapses

The Government had not made it clear whether the police should investigate the lapses, if any, of the Authorisation Committee set up under the Human Organs Transplantation Act 1994 or only the role of unscrupulous elements involved in the racket, the sources said.

Incidentally, a senior police officer from the city police unit was a member of the Authorisation Committee as a representative of Commissioner of Police.

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