Hyderabad: Kidney selling racket busted, three arrested

Hyderabad: Three persons were arrested in connection with the suspected Colombo-based kidney selling racket, following death of a 26-year-old local youth in Sri Lanka, police in Hyderabad said today.

"Three agents N Venkatesham, who is into computer hardware occupation, besides a MBA student DSP Srinivas and a private employee Govind Suryanarayana were arrested from Hyderabad and Chityal mandal in Nalgonda district," city Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma told reporters today.

He said the trio allegedly facilitated the sale of kidneys.

Earlier, based on a complaint lodged by one Ganesh, brother of the deceased Dinesh Kumar Maroo, (who had email conversations with the agents on kidney transplantation) suspected that his brother's death was due to the kidney racket.

Maroo died in Colombo on March 30, following which the Central Crime Station (CCS) police in Hyderabad launched an investigation into the matter on April 16.

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"During the course of investigation, police found that the accused agents collected the details of the kidney donors from the internet postings and used to inform a Sri Lankan doctor, who arranged for flight tickets, accommodation and surgeries at some selected hospitals," Sharma said.

After settling a package with needy patients for Rs 30-50 lakh, the doctor used to pay only Rs 3-5 lakh to the victim (donor) while Rs 1.5 lakh to agents as their commission, he said.

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"In this case, Maroo had approached Venkatesham, who promised him Rs 5 lakh and accordingly Maroo, along with one Kiran Kumar, left for Colombo on March 23. Kiran was also to sell his kidney along with Maroo as per the deal," Sharma said.

According to police, Maroo told his family members that he was going to Sri Lanka for job.

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"On March 28, the duo along with another Indian Aram Zargar, who had undergone kidney surgery and got discharged went to the beach where Maroo consumed beer, smoked heavily and swam in the sea. On the next day, Maroo and Kiran went to the hospital where kiran was to be admitted for surgery ," the police chief explained.