The Crime Branch of Delhi Police on Tuesday took into custody seven people, including a doctor in connection with an alleged organ transplant racket running across Bangladesh and the Delhi-NCR region, officials privy to the development said.
It has been told that acting on a tip-off, Delhi Police has been working on the case for two months. Investigation so far has revealed that the majority of the donors and recipients are from Bangladesh and they are brought to India based on the fake documents for the surgeries.
Delhi organ rackeet busted: What did the police say?
Commenting on the notable development, Delhi Police Commissioner Amit Goel, said that the ‘mastermind’ as well as all the others associated with the racket are suspected of having links with Bangladesh.
In a statement, DCP Goel said, “We have arrested a person named Russell, who used to arrange patients and donors, and a female doctor involved in the transplant has also been arrested.”
“They used to charge ₹25-30 lakh for each transplant”, he further added.
Delhi organ racket busted: About the arrested doctor
The arrested woman doctor is currently working as a kidney transplant surgeon in a well-known hospital in southeast Delhi. It has been revealed that she has a close association with two to three hospitals.
The doctor has allegedly been involved in surgeries of some people from Bangladesh between 2021 and 2023, the officials said.
“Her role in this case was that she was facilitating organ transplants even when she was aware that the donor and receiver were not blood relations, making her part of the conspiracy,” DCP Goel said.
Besides the doctor, police also took into custody an assistant of the doctor and five others, including three Bangladeshi nationals.
About organ donation law in India
India's Transplantation of Human Organs Act (2014) allows organ donations only from an individual sharing an immediate blood relation such as parents and siblings.
The act prohibits any Indian living donor from donating their organs to a foreign recipient unless they are a close relative of the recipient. Furthermore, the donation can only take place when a senior member of the recipient's embassy certifies the relation between them and the donor for it to be valid for transplant.
These cases are also considered only if there is no Indian patient eligible for the organ donation.
