7k-page chargesheet filed in B’deshi kidney racket case

New Delhi: Delhi Police’s Crime Branch has filed a 7,000-page chargesheet in connection with an alleged kidney transplant racket busted by them in July. The case is related to some patients from Bangladesh coming to the city for unauthorised kidney transplants.According to the chargesheet, the gang allegedly targeted patients suffering from kidney ailments in Bangladesh by visiting dialysis centres there. They allegedly arranged the donors from Bangladesh, exploiting their impoverished financial circumstances and manipulating them under the pretext of providing them with employment opportunities in India.Police have named 10 accused, including three patients and a doctor, in their report, which was filed a few days ago in a city court. Besides several sections of IPC — Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita was not in force at the time of the commission of the crime — police have invoked sections of Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act (TOHO). They have also charged the accused with the destruction of evidence and hatching a criminal conspiracy.In July, Crime Branch had apprehended seven people, including a woman doctor and her assistant. Some of the accused were identified as Rasel, Mohammad Sumon Miyan, Mohammad Rokon, Ratesh Pal and Mohammad Sharique. They have all been named in the chargesheet, besides three patients whose identity has not been disclosed, police said.The gang, police have claimed, arranged for poor patients from Bangladesh for organ donations. It has been alleged that false files were created based on fabricated documents to enable the surgeries. Regarding the doctor, a kidney surgeon and visiting consultant at two prominent hospitals, police have claimed that she had performed the surgery while being aware that the patient was not eligible for organ donation.According to the chargesheet, the doctor’s personal assistant, Vikram Singh, “allegedly assisted in the preparation of the patient files and was instrumental in getting the affidavit of the patient and donor prepared. He purportedly charged Rs 20,000 per patient”.“Rasel disclosed the name of one Sharique as one of his associates. Sharique allegedly took appointments for patients from the doctor and got the pathological tests conducted and liaised with the doctor’s team,” police said, adding that Sharique purportedly charged Rs 50,000-60,000 per patient.Last week, Delhi High Court had granted bail to the doctor and noted that at this stage, accusing the surgeon of falsifying records seemed too speculative and was an issue to be addressed in further investigations. In an order dated Aug 23, Justice Amit Mahajan’s bench said the doctor had been in custody since July 1. The prosecution had not claimed that the applicant was part of the committee that approved the kidney transplantation, it pointed out.