A Hyderabad-based ‘doctor’ was the sole point-of-contact for an international organ trafficking racket based out of Iran, officials from the Ernakulam police of Kerala revealed. A team of cops from Ernakulam, with the help of local police in Hyderabad, nabbed the man from Khairatabad.
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Speaking to The Hindu about the case, the SP of Ernakulam police, Vaibhav Saxena said that Bellamkonda Ram Prasad alias Prathapan, 41, was a big name in the medicine community and a known businessman with a good networking chain across the country. “He would be reached out on secure lines from one Madhu, a native of Kochi, in Iran for kidney donors. The donors, mostly from Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi, would get somewhere between ₹8-10 lakh. The recipients of the organs, mostly wealthy clients, end up paying anywhere between ₹50 lakh and ₹1 crore. The middlemen in the racket, operating out of Iran, end up making the most money,” explained the official.
Once Prasad arranges a donor, he informs the organisers in Iran, who fly them out of the country and allot them a place in a hotel days before the surgery and send them back with the cash. “Prasad was the key player whose role was to take the details of the client and find a suitable donor from India,” added the official. He would introduce himself as ‘Dr. Ram Prasad’ to his victims and convince them to donate their kidneys.
Sabith Nasar, a native of Thrissur, Kerala, whose arrest opened the pandora’s box on the racket, was managing and facilitating the donors in Iran. Besides Sabith and Ram Prasad, the Kerala police have also nabbed one Sajith Shyam, alleged to be handling the financials of the racket.
All the three accused were booked under different sections of the IPC and under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act of 1994. Efforts are on to trace and nab Madhu, who is reportedly in Iran, by the Kerala police.