Gujarat Police Uncover Major Kidney Racket in Anand District

Superintendent of Police of Anand district has ordered to constitute an SIT to investigate the matter

13 people were held under suspicion that they sold their kidney. (Photo: iStock altered by The Quint)

Police in Gujarat’s Anand uncovered a major inter-state racket in trafficking of human organs on Tuesday. The cops brought 13 people to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital on for forensic examination on suspicion that they had sold their kidneys. The action was taken after five people complained they had become victims of a gang engaged in illegal organ trafficking.

All the accused are from Pandoli village, where police have information of 80 such cases though they are yet to ascertain if they fell prey to the racket or were part of it.

Police believe this to be the handiwork of an organised gang with operations across Gujarat, Chennai and Sri Lanka.

Bharat Shah, Dean, BJ Medical College, where the people are being examined, said it appeared the kidneys had been taken out by experts.

We asked them detailed questions and a seven-member forensic team also carried out medical examination of the patients brought in by police

Bharat Shah, Dean, BJ Medical College

Five other youths have alleged their kidneys were surgically removed without their knowledge at different times since 2001 after making them unconscious, police said.

The first police complaint was lodged by Samir Badruddin Malek of the same village. He was taken to Delhi and operated upon to remove a kidney.

We have taken statements of these five youths and sent them for medical check-up to ascertain their claims. We will lodge an FIR after the reports arrive. Since the issue is serious, I have ordered formation of an SIT to go deeper into it

<b>Ashok Kumar Yadav, SP, Anand</b>

Yadav said that most people in the village are daily wage labourers, and one told police that that he decided to sell his kidney as he was in dire straits financially, while another did so to finance his daughter’s wedding.