The main accused of a kidney racket unearthed in Dehradun, was arrested by the police (Representational)
The Uttarakhand Police has made a major headway in its investigations into a kidney transplant racket unearthed recently in the district with the arrest of four more persons including the main accused Mr Amit Kumar.
Mr Amit Kumar was also the mastermind of the multi-crore Gurgaon kidney racket in 2008 and was believed to have conducted over 500 illegal operations. The CBI had registered a case and an Interpol notice had been issued then for his arrest. Mr Kumar was arrested in Nepal in February 2008.
The fresh racket was unearthed on September 11 in Gangotri charitable hospital in Lal Tappar area of rural Dehradun.
Dehradun SSP Nivedita Kukreti told PTI that main accused Amit Kumar besides three others including Mr Jeevan Kumar, who assisted him in kidney transplant surgeries, nurse Sarla and Billu, who worked as the driver of another main accused in the case Mr Rajiv Chaudhry were arrested from different places in Haryana and Uttarakhand late last evening.
While Mr Amit, Mr Jeevan and Ms Sarla were arrested from a parking lot in front of a hotel in sector 18, Panchkula in Haryana, Mr Billu was arrested from Raiwala area in Dehradun, she said.
Mr Rajiv Chaudhry is the man who ran the hospital after taking it on a lease.
Mr Amit Kumar and Mr Jeevan Kumar, who allegedly masqueraded as doctors and performed the surgeries on the kidney donors were quacks who had no valid medical degrees, she said.
With these arrests the number of people held in connection with the case has risen to five.
A middleman named Mr Javed was arrested on September 11.
Six mobile phones, a Mercedes and a BMW besides Rs 33.73 lakh in cash have been recovered from those arrested from Panchkula.
A car has also been recovered from Mr Rajiv Chaudhry's driver Billu's possession, the SSP said.
It is being investigated whether transplant operations conducted illegally by Mr Amit Kumar and Mr Jeevan Kumar led to death of patients, the SSP said.