ED conducts raid in connection with kidney sale racket
The enforcement directorate (ED), Odisha has resumed the searches in the alleged kidney sale racket at the Seven Hills Hospital in the city, where a kidney transplant was made illegally in June last year.
Visakhapatnam: The enforcement directorate (ED), Odisha has resumed the searches in the alleged kidney sale racket at the Seven Hills Hospital in the city, where a kidney transplant was made illegally in June last year. The ED took up the investigation of last year's alleged kidney sale racket in Cuttack of Odisha and the Odisha police also arrested several people, including director (medical) of Seven Hills Hospitals N. Prabhakar Babu for the irregularities in the kidney transplantation last year.
The ED officials, who arrived at Vizag on Wednesday continued search and inspected several documents related to kidney transplantation till Friday noon. Police of III-Town police station accompanied the ED officials. III Town inspector B. Tirumala Rao said that they have role in this investigation and they assisted the ED team that carried out searches at the hospital.
The ED began its probe into the sensational kidney sale racket in June last year. According to reports, a three-member ED team, comprising three assistant directors, on Thursday arrived at Seven Hills Hospital in Vizag where it interrogated some hospital staff members. Sources in the ED said the agency is likely to bring the director of the hospital Dr Prabhakar Babu to Bhubaneswar for further interrogation.
The Mangalabag police in Cuttack had registered a case in July last year following a complaint by a woman Namita Nayak who said she had agreed to give her kidney due to acute poverty. In return, she was assured of financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh, but was paid only Rs 50, 000. Her name was changed to Banita Lenka and she was shown in hospital records as a relative of the person to whom she had agreed to give her kidney. The woman was taken to Seven HIlls hospital where the hospital authorities, without proper verification of the document, transplanted her kidney without the knowledge of her husband.
The incident came to light after the woman's husband lodged a complaint with the Mangalabag police that the recipient of kidney gave only Rs 45,000 to his wife instead of the promised amount of Rs 10 lakh. Acting on the complaint, police arrested the mediators Sharmistha Nayak and Niranjan Choudhury alias Nirakar. The Bhubaneswar commissionerate police later arrested Dr Prabhakar Babu, Jagabandhu Lenka (brother of Mohan Lenka who had taken the kidney of the woman) and his friend Niranjan Pradhan. Despite the demands from various quarters for further investigation into the case, the commissioner of police closed the case. However, taking suo-motto the matter seriously, ED has taken up the case.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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