The West Zone police arrested four persons, including two women, for attempting to procure kidneys from two people and selling them to ‘receivers’ by submitting fake family certificates.
The accused were identified as K. Karthik, his wife Nagamani, an accomplice V. Kanaka Mahalakshmi and a man named Tammisetti Venkaiah, all hailing from Bhavanipuram in Vijayawada. The accused were tasked with finding two kidney donors by a man named Babu Rao, who is absconding, according to West Zone Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) K. Hanumantha Rao.
Babu Rao was reportedly approached by a man named Deepak Reddy for a kidney, after which Babu Rao asked Karthik to arrange for a donor. Karthik and his wife Nagamani then asked Mahalakshmi to find a suitable donor, and promised to pay her ₹1 lakh if she could find one.
Mahalakshmi initially managed to convince two women to sell their kidneys, but upon medical tests the two women were found to be unfit for donation. Later, Mahalakshmi zeroed in on a woman named G. Chinna who agreed to part with a kidney in exchange for money. She was also found to be in a fit condition to donate one of her kidneys.
The accused then submitted an application for kidney transplantation with a fake family certificate and residence certificate to the Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) and Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO), the ACP said.
However, upon close scrutiny, the certificates were found to be fake, after which the MRO alerted the police.
A team led by Bhavanipuram Circle Inspector Abdul Salam then began tracking the movements of the accused and arrested them at Shadikhana on Wednesday.
The entire deal is estimated to have been fixed at ₹29 lakh, police said. The accused had coaxed gullible women into parting with their kidneys in exchange for money. The donors were also assured that all expenses such as medical tests and hospitalisation would be taken care of, police said.
“The accused had taken ₹3.5 lakh from Deepak Reddy for performing medical tests of the donors to see if they were medically fit,” Mr. Abdul Salam said.
In another case, another person named Satyavathi had contacted Karthik and Nagamani seeking a kidney donor. Karthik and Nagamani then approached their neighbour Venkaiah, who reportedly convinced his wife to part with her kidney in exchange for a large sum of money.
“Cases have been registered against the accused under Section 19 (a) of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (THOTA), 1994, Section 199 IPC (false statement made in declaration which is by law receivable as evidence) and other charges,” Commissioner of Police Kanthi Rana Tata said.
