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More arrests in kidney racket case

Staff Reporter

– PHOTO: PTI

ONE MORE CATCH: Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital nurse Linda, an accused in the multi-crore kidney racket case, in police custody at a Gurgaon court on Thursday.

NEW DELHI/GURGAON/MORADABAD: A day after prime accused Amit Kumar’s sister-in-law Pooja and his driver Umesh were arrested, the Gurgaon police on Thursday arrested four more persons, including a nurse working at a hospital in Delhi, for their alleged links with the accused in the multi-crore kidney racket.

Linda, a resident of Manipur, was arrested at Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital in the Capital on Thursday. “Linda has worked for kidney racket kingpin Amit Kumar for over a year in 2005-06. She was paid Rs.25,000 to 30,000 a month. She left the job in mid-2006 to join Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital as a staff nurse, but continued to work for the accused as a part-timer. She is believed to be close to Amit Kumar,” said a senior police officer.

Two Nepalese nationals -- Suresh and Ramesh -- and Upender’s driver Harpal were also arrested. “Suresh and Ramesh worked as cooks in the guest house of the accused,” said the police. The four were remanded to two days’ judicial custody by Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Surya Pratap Singh. The police, who on Wednesday had arrested co-accused Jeevan’s wife Pooja and Amit Kumar’s driver Umesh, continued to conduct raids in and around the Capital on Thursday in search of the accused. Meanwhile, reacting to media speculation that two prominent South Delhi hospitals had been raided during the day, Senior Superintendent of Police (Moradabad) Prem Prakash clarified: “There were no raids… no searches were conducted… our team has not touched the hospitals.” Speaking to The Hindu over phone, Mr. Prakash, however, said the names of the two hospitals had figured during interrogation in connection with some routine kind of check-ups conducted at these hospitals some six years ago. “Later fake letterheads of these hospitals were used by the accused…this is the only information we have so far. These hospitals had been named by Dr. Upender during interrogation,” said Mr. Prakash.

On possible whereabouts of the alleged kingpin of the racket, Amit Kumar, Mr. Prakash said: “It is only speculation that he has fled to Canada… He has relatives in that country as one of his wives is staying there with their kids. He has relations living in Uttar Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Mumbai. He might still be hiding in India. He was in the country when the racket was busted, but managed to escape just two hours before the raid. Upender told us that Amit was due to leave for some place but he did not have any information about the possible destination. Amit’s family members might be in the know of his whereabouts.”

Mr. Prakash said several teams had fanned out to Noida, Ghaziabad, Delhi, Gurgaon, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir looking for the accused.

“We expect to make some more arrests on Thursday night,” he added.

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