Man who introduced kidney ‘donor’ to kingpin held

Mumbai: The Powai police on Tuesday arrested a man from Nadiad city in Kheda district, Gujarat, who introduced the ‘donor’, Shobha Thakur, 42, to the kidney transplant racket kingpin, Bhejendra Bisen, 42.
Yusufsha Diwan, 45, is the seventh person to be arrested in the racket, busted at Hiranandani Hospital, Powai, on July 14. Diwan promised Thakur a ‘job’ that would enable her to repay her loans.
Thakur will be taken to the state government-run JJ Hospital in Byculla for a health assessment. The patient, Surat-based textile businessman, Brijkishore Jaiswal, 48, to whom Thakur was supposed to donate a kidney, is scheduled to be discharged and handed over to the police on Wednesday.
“We have sent letters to JJ Hospital and the police, telling them that Thakur should be taken for MRI, CT and ultra-sonography scans to ascertain her kidneys are intact,’’ said Dr Gauri Rathod, in-charge of the implementation of the state organ donation Act.
The scans are necessary, she said, as the state investigating committee found Thakur had stitches on her back. “We have to find out if her kidneys are fine,’’ added Dr Rathod, who heads the committee. She said the donor led a poverty-stricken life in Gujarat and needed help. “We have told the police women’s cell to help her,’’ she added.
Jaiswal, who has been undergoing two dialysis sessions every week, also got a dialysis on Tuesday evening. “While the patient will leave hospital tomorrow, we have been requested by the state to keep Thakur until her sutures are removed in three to four days. She will be brought back after scans at JJ,’’ said hospital CEO, Dr Sujit Chatterjee.
The court on Tuesday extended till July 22 the police custody of the seven accused: Bisen, the recipient’s son Kishan Jaiswal, 28, Iqbal Khan, 49, Bharat Sharma, 62, hospital staffer, Nilesh Kamble, 36, Khwaja Patel, 66, and Diwan.
When magistrate Ashwini Lokhande of the Andheri 66th metropolitan magistrate court asked about Thakur, public prosecutor Sudhri Sapkale replied that the police were awaiting her discharge before arresting her and Jaiswal. “The investigators are collecting evidence and suspect more were involved,” Sapkale told TOI.
The magistrate also told Sapkale to inform the investigating officer to be present with the case papers when the custody ends on July 22.
“Diwan was tracked down after Thakur and Bisen provided his address. Diwan had introduced Bisen to Thakur. The donor said she was from a poor family and was lured with the money,” said an investigator. But investigators do not believe the claims of the seven arrested.
The magistrate extended their custody for giving wrong information, the public prosecutor said. —With inputs by Malathy Iyer