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Sunday, Feb 10, 2008
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Amit brought to New Delhi

Staff Reporter

Nepal deports kidney racket kingpin; CBI takes over probe

NEW DELHI: Amit Kumar, the alleged kingpin of the multi-crore kidney transplant racket arrested by the Nepal police on Thursday, was brought here by a Central Bureau of Investigation team on board an Indian Airlines flight on Saturday. The accused was deported to India by the Nepalese government.

Dr. Kumar, against whom an Interpol red-corner notice was issued recently, vanished from Gurgaon on January 24, just hours before the Moradabad police raided his clandestine operation theatre and unearthed the racket with the arrest of a doctor and others allegedly working for him.

A three-member CBI team headed by an officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police had left for Nepal in the morning to bring Dr. Kumar back. While a swarm of journalists anxiously awaited his arrival at the main exit gate of the Indira Gandhi International Airport here around 6.45 p.m., the doctor was whisked away to the CBI headquarters through one of the staff gates.

An Italian national, Alberto Galbiati, who was on board the flight, told journalists at the airport that he was seated behind Dr. Kumar in the second row. “Amit’s face was muffled and he was seated with three officers. He was the first passenger to disembark after the flight landed.”

The CBI on Friday night registered a case in the kidney transplant racket, taking over investigations from the Gurgaon police. Accordingly, all related files have been handed over to the premier agency.

Apart from identifying those involved in the racket, the CBI would also investigate the links of the alleged mastermind in different countries and trace the wealth generated through the illegal transplants.

The CBI thanked the Nepalese authorities for extending “exceptional cooperation in deportation of the fugitive criminal.”

Following confirmation of his arrest in Nepal, the CBI approached the Nepalese government through the External Affairs Ministry and the Indian Embassy there, seeking his custody.

The Nepalese government on Saturday gave its nod for Dr. Kumar’s deportation considering the seriousness of the charges against him, clearing the way for his interrogation and trial in India.

About a dozen other people have been arrested in the case so far and six other doctors are still wanted.

The gang is suspected to have conducted about 500 illegal kidney transplants in the past one decade.

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