Accused’s lawyer calls charge sheet illegal, alleges cops flouted Transplantation of Human Organs Act; officers refute allegations
The Sahar police recently filed a 2,000-page charge sheet before the Andheri Magistrate Court in the Mumbai-Cairo kidney racket, which was busted after immigration officials at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport had detained Urchinthala Nizamuddin a few months ago on the suspicion that he had come to drop off a donor at the airport. Nizamuddin was later handed over to the Sahar police, which investigated the matter further, leading to the arrest of Suresh Prajapati from Ahmedabad.
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Procedure not followed?
Prajapati’s advocate, S M Saifullah, has said they will challenge the charge sheet in court, calling it illegal. "The police have misused their power while investigating the alleged offence. Their action is in complete contravention to the Transplantation of Human Organs Act, which states that an appropriate authority must be constituted to deal with matters that fall under it. The alleged accused in the matter were also granted bail," he added. Section 188 of the Code of Criminal Procedure states that in any offence that’s taken place outside India, it’s mandatory for the police or the investigating agency to take prior permission from the central government, which would be the ground to challenge the matter, Saifullah said. The Sahar police, however, have denied the allegations.
Case diary
On September 2, immigration officials had detained Nizamuddin and found three passports in his possession. His interrogation had led to the arrest of Prajapati, who had also been arrested earlier by the Hyderabad police after they had busted the India-Sri Lanka kidney racket. Investigation by the Sahar police had revealed that the donors were asked to donate the kidneys after coming in contact with the accused and promised Rs 5 lakh, while the recipients were asked to pay R35-40 lakh. The investigation had revealed that while the donors were mostly from South India, recipients were from all across the country.
Doctors at a hospital in Cairo were paid Rs 22 lakh per surgery - six transplants were carried out between June and September. The police had also issued a lookout notice against a person whose name had cropped up in their probe - one Madhu who acted as a coordinator between the accused and the hospital.
Rs 40 lakh Payment taken by the syndicate from the organ recipients
Rs 05 lakh The amount a donor was paid for his/her kidney
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