Mumbai: Whistleblower who helped bust kidney racket is a homeless man

It was a 28yearold cook whose home is a tempo who exposed the kidney transplant racket at Hiranandani Hospital in Powai last week Going through police statements of all those connected to the racket midday found that Abid Sheikh who lives in Mumbai Central was the actual whistleblower Sheikh spoke exclusively to midday revealing exactly how he came to expose the racketAlso Read Kidney transplant racket Two held in GujaratAbid Sheikh was one of the key informers of a kidney racket busted back in 2007 in which the same kingpin Brijendra Bisen was arrested PicsSneha KharabeSheikh who is presently at an undisclosed location as there is threat to his life was one of the key informers of a kidney racket busted back in 2007 in which the same kingpin Brijendra Bisen was arrested by the then Joint Commissioner Crime Rakesh Maria and his teamRead Story Kidney transplant racket Hospital staffer cleared paperwork for Rs 8 lakhAbid Sheikh lives in a tempo in Mumbai CentralSheikh says his acquaintance Sundar Singh who is now an accused in the racket was employed at the same food joint he worked at for three years Three months ago Singh sold his kidney but got paid just Rs 12 lakh of the promised Rs 5 lakh Singh then approached Bisen who fobbed him off saying he too had been swindled by the kidney recipient Bisen then lured Singh into joining him in recruiting patients assuring him of Rs 10000 every month Singhrsquos job was to escort donors to and from the hospital and provide them with accommodation and hospitalisationA year ago Sheikh was tipped off about Bisen being out on bail and restarting the kidney racket He started investigatingIn the process Sheikh met a close accomplice of Bisen who alerted him to the racket being carried out in connivance with the doctors of Hirandani Hospital The hospital management has denied this allegationldquoThis was a highprofile racket so I approached Rajesh Bansi Pawar district president of Indian National Trade Union Congress INTUC who offered supportrdquo says SheikhldquoI got to know that Nadiad in Gujarat was the hub for selling kidneys and visited the place but couldnrsquot gather sufficient information from thererdquo Sheikh saidAlso Read Kidney transplant racket gang facilitated 35 transplants in 5 yearsA month ago Sheikh bumped into Singh at Girgaum beach who told him about being cheated of R5 lakh for his kidney and also told him about his new job with Bisen Singh then introduced Sheikh to Shobha Thakur 42 a kidney donor He also showed him documents that had been forged showing her as the wife of the kidney recipient Brijkishore Jaiswal 48 a Suratbased textile businessmanSheikh had hit bullrsquos eye ldquoThis was a big lead and I convinced Sundar to give me all documents with the promise of Rs 5 lakhrdquoOnce Sheikh got the documents he handed them to Pawar who got his colleague Bhavin Metha to verify them During verification Pawar found the documents to be fake and decided to organise a raid at Hirandani Hospital on July 14 the transplant dateBy the time the INTUC team and the Powai police arrived to stop the transplant it had been successfully completed Sheikh played a key role in identifying the kingpin who was present at the hospitalSheikh said ldquoAs soon as Bisen saw the police he tried to run away but I grabbed him and handed him over to the police teamrdquoNow Singh has been asking Sheikh for the promised Rs 5 lakh ldquoI am a mere cook and have no money to pay Sundar who has been calling me every day In 2007 we were paid handsomely by the Crime Branch but this time neither INTUC nor the Mumbai police have rewarded us I risked my life for nothingrdquo Sheikh saidRs 5 lakhAmount Sheikhrsquos acquaintance Sundar Singh who is now an accused in the racket was promised for a kidney He got only Rs 12 lakh