Kerala HC orders re-postmortem in filmmaker Sanal's cousin death case

With an award-winning filmmaker in Kerala pursuing a legal fight seeking a CBI probe into an alleged illegal organ trade in Kerala, the High Court on Wednesday ordered another postmortem of his cousin's remains by a team of doctors.

Filmmaker Sanal Kumar Sasidharan approached the court raising suspicion over the death of his father's niece Sandhya, 40, in Thiruvananthapuram. While the postmortem examination indicated that Covid-19 could be the reason for the death, Sasidharan alleged that she was a victim of an illegal organ trade.

Sasidharan approached the court alleging that Sandhya was subjected to organ trade in violation of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act and sought a CBI probe. Owing to the objections raised by him, Sandhya's body was also not cremated even as she died on November 7.

The court directed Thiruvananthapuram medical college hospital superintendent to conduct a re-postmortem and the procedures should be videographed. The court will hear the case again next week.

Sasidharan's allegation assumed significance as a preliminary probe by police into organ transplantation in the state found that illegal organ trade was thriving in the state with the involvement of middlemen and private hospitals. The Crime Branch also launched a detailed probe into it.

Meanwhile, the private hospital in Kochi where Sandhya had earlier undergone liver transplantation had denied allegations of illegal trade.

Sasidharan alleged that Sandhya sold her liver for Rs 10 lakh for a patient at the hospital in 2018.