Delhi Police bust illegal kidney transplant racket spanning across five states: Report

The Delhi Police have managed to crack an illegal kidney transplant racket which had been operating for six years in five states - Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Investigating Officer Inspector Pawan busted the illegal racket in June only to find that the mastermind is an MBA graduate who also is a kidney transplant coordinator at numerous hospitals.

Police have said that the accused has been identified as Sandeep Arya (39), who abetted 34 illegal kidney transplants amounting to Rs 10 crore.

A case was filed against Arya and his co-accused Vijay Kumar Kashyap aka Sumit by the wife of a 'client' who was in line to receive a kidney transplant.

Police said that this complaint led to a major breakthrough in the case.

According to the report, Seema Bhasin, the complainant alleged that the accused Arya and Kashyap duped her husband Hitesh of Rs 35 lakh.

She alleged that the duo did not provide her husband a transplant in time, which led to his death on December 24, 2023.

Seema, in her complaint, also asserted that Arya had asked Hitesh to stop his dialysis treatment and shift to Primus Super Speciality Hospital in Chanakyapuri, claiming that he had a 'setting' there.

According to IE, a police officer said, "We had a tip-off about the racket in Delhi-NCR. But once this complaint was received, we zeroed in on Arya and Kashyap."

The officer said that the complaint registered by Seema led to multiple arrests which "finally facilitated in busting the nation's largest ever illegal kidney transplant rackets".

According to the police, the first one to be arrested from his apartment in Paras Tiera Society, Noida Sector 137, was Kashyap on June 26.

The rest involved in the case were arrested by July 17, and seven donors and patients were obligated to appear in the court when asked, police said.

According to the report, an officer who was involved in the investigation said, "Arya charged around Rs 35-40 lakh per transplant, which included all costs - from the organ to accommodation for donors and preparing forged documents. The group saved up to Rs 7 lakh per operation and distributed it among themselves."

Sources according to the report have said that a 4,000-page chargesheet has been filed in court.

A Delhi Police official acquainted with the probe said that Arya was arrested from a five-star hotel in Goa.

As per the publication, the officer said, "Because of his extravagant lifestyle, he was in debt. He had expensive tastes… he would stay in big hotels… and spend lavishly. We seized a Mercedes car from him. A beneficiary had given it to him as payment for organising an illegal transplant."

Police said, "Documents were forged to establish close relations between donors and receivers to show adherence to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues (THOT) Act, 1994."

"He kept extending the reach of his racket. Soon, he started facilitating kidney transplants in Gujarat, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh simultaneously," an official said about Arya.

The official also said that of the eight arrested - Sumit, Cheekha Prashanth, and Mohammad Hanif were Arya's donors.

According to the report, the officer also said, "Another accused, Tej Prakash, who arranged donors and customers, had received a transplant for his wife through Arya from a donor in Mohali."