Rajukumar Rao, the kingpin of the kidney transplant racket in Delhi’s Apollo Hospital has been arrested in Kolkata, sources confirmed on Tuesday night.
He is expected to be brought to Delhi on Wednesday morning where he will be questioned by the Special Investigation Team of the Delhi Police about his role in the racket, the sources said.
The arrest came after Delhi Police nabbed 3 donors, including a couple, on Monday night.
The donor couple, Umesh Srivastava and Neelu Srivastava, was arrested in Kanpur. The third donor, Momita, was nabbed in Siliguri. She is the wife of Devashish Moulik, who was arrested last week.
With the arrest of Rao and the 3 donors, the total numbers of arrests in the case has gone up to 9.
Last week, five men, including two personal assistants of senior nephrologists in Apollo Hospital, were arrested in connection with the kidney racket.
The sources said the donors had come to Delhi in January and February, when Devashish and Aseem Sikdar, another accused in the case, arranged their accommodation at a Paharganj hotel.
They stayed there for around 25 days. During this time, Sikdar first made their fake identity cards and then arranged for their operation at Apollo.
The 3 allegedly got Rs 4 lakh each for donating their kidney, violating the law which allows organ donation only by those related to the receiver.
When the police made the initial arrests last week, they seized large numbers of files at Apollo Hospital with the details of organ donors and receivers.
While scanning them, they stumbled upon the names and photos of the 3 donors. After getting their addresses, the Delhi Police sent a team to arrest them, the sources said.
Meanwhile, police sources said that 10 doctors, part of the assessment committee on transplant surgeries at the hospital will be questioned about the case in the coming days.
The panel includes senior doctors working at the hospital, independent doctors and a government doctor.
The police are also waiting to question senior Apollo nephrologist Dr Ashok Sarin, after his expected return from America on Thursday.
One of the arrested men in the case is Sarin’s personal assistant. The police are also expected to question another senior Apollo nephrologist Dr Sandeep Guleria, in the coming days. His personal assistant too was arrested last week.
DH News Service