Bangladesh-India organ transplant racket busted in Gurgaon

The authorities in Gurgaon, a city in India's New Delhi, busted an illegal organ transplant nexus that involves middlemen bringing Bangladeshi citizens to Indian hospitals to both donate and receive organs.

Gurgaon police said the racket was busted in a raid conducted by a team from the chief minister's Flying Squad and the health department at a hotel in the city's Sector-39 area on 4 March, reports The Indian Express. 

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Gurgaon Sadar Police Station Tarun Kumar said, during interrogation of the arrestees, it was found that Murtaza Ansari from Ranchi, Jharkhand used to run the racket. He facilitated kidney transplants at Fortis Hospital in Jaipur.

"A donor we found at the hotel contacted Ansari through a Facebook post…The deal was finalised at Rs2 lakh for the kidney donor, while Rs10 lakh was charged from the recipient. We are checking if the passports were original. So far, we have found that two operations took place, the recipient of one was at the hotel while the donor had gone back to Bangladesh. In the second case, the donor was at the hotel and the recipient was still at the hospital," Kumar added.

Police said the surgeries were conducted at the Jaipur hospital after which they were brought to Gurgaon and made to stay at the hotel for 10-12 days before being sent back. "The accused was not at the hotel at the time of the raid," said Kumar.

A first information report (FIR) has been registered under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act and sections 420, 120B IPC at the Gurgaon Sadar police station against Ansari and police are looking for him.

ACP(Sadar) Kapil Ahlawat said that they are checking for details of Ansari and how the Bangladesh nationals came to India.

Dr Pawan Chaudhary, deputy civil surgeon, Gurgaon, said, "During the raid, we found that two people were yet to get the surgery done as they were found unfit for it. Earlier, a raid took place in Jaipur after which Gurgaon police were informed of the incident."

According to the FIR, "…the guests were donors and recipients of kidneys and were treated at Fortis Hospital Jaipur…it was surprising to note that the donor and the recipient were not related to each other. When they were enquired about a no-objection certificate or any permission from the authority as authorised under law, neither could produce any such document."

The FIR stated that one of the donors said that he contacted Ansari after spotting an advertisement on Facebook. Police said a kidney from Shamim Mehndi Hasan, 24, was given to a 66-year-old man from whom Ansari took Rs10 lakh. In the second case, a 30-year-old donated his kidney for Rs2 lakh to a 25-year-old.

Speaking to the media at the hotel, Shamim said, "They arranged all the documents, including the passport. They brought me here two months ago. The passport was forged but I don't know the details."

Fortis Healthcare, in a statement, said it would fully cooperate with any ongoing investigation.

A spokesperson said that a transplant coordinator at the hospital was found to have been involved with the racket, and action was taken against him by authorities last week.