Kidney racket kingpin gives Guj cops the slip, handcuffs as memento
A massive manhunt has been launched for Dr Santosh Raut in and around Ajmer where he is suspected to have got off from the train.
Dr Santosh Raut, the prime accused in the kidney racket busted by Gujarat police, on Tuesday managed to flee when he was being brought back from Delhi to Gujarat on a long-distance train. Dr Raut alias Amit Raut/ Amit Kumar was arrested on July 29 by the Crime Branch in Anand in Gujarat. Raut managed to flee despite being handcuffed to the metal bar in his berth on the AC two-tier coach.
Now, the police have launched a massive manhunt for him, who they suspect to have escaped in Ajmer.
“It was sometime between 2 am and 3 am when the train was crossing Ajmer junction that one of the police constables woke up and found Raut missing from his berth. The handcuffs were left latched to the railing but there was no trace of Raut,” said Saurabh Singh, superintendent of police, Anand. Raut was allotted the upper berth while other four policemen took the adjacent and lower berths. Singh said, “After he was found missing, the team checked the train and then alerted the RPF. The joint team searched for Raut in Ajmer and also checked nearby stations. They went through the CCTV footage at the stations but no luck.”
The Anand police had registered a case in March this year on the complaint of one Aamir Malik, a resident of Pandoli village in Anand district at Gujarat. Malik had claimed that Raut, an Ayurvedic practitioner, along with others including some people from his village had taken him to Delhi where his kidney was removed without his knowledge. Further investigations done by Mumbai Mirror in Pandoli village revealed that at least 11 people from the village had lost their kidneys in the racket allegedly run by Raut.
Anand police had been interrogating Raut who has denied his role in the racket and kept pointing to involvement of some other doctors. For further investigation and reconstruction of the crime scene, the Anand police team headed by inspector Haresh Vora had gone to Delhi three days ago. The team visited the makeshift operation theatre and several other places where the victims were kept before and after surgery and then left for Gujarat on Monday night.
Raut was to be produced in the court on Tuesday after which the Anand police were to start their probe on other suspects whose names had cropped up during the investigation. Raut’s brother Jeevan will also be questioned in connection with the case. Raut had named a few doctors from Nepal and Sri Lanka alleging that they were the ones who were conducting the surgeries at the makeshift operation theatre in Gurgaon.
Raut was acquitted in the case registered against him in Mumbai in the late 1990s and got bail in another kidney racket case registered by the CBI in Delhi. Two teams of Anand police have spread out in Jaipur and Ajmer to look for Raut; in the meantime, an inquiry will be conducted by the office of Superintendent of Police regarding his escape.
Dr Santosh Raut, the prime accused in the kidney racket busted by Gujarat police, on Tuesday managed to flee when he was being brought back from Delhi to Gujarat on a long-distance train. Dr Raut alias Amit Raut/ Amit Kumar was arrested on July 29 by the Crime Branch in Anand in Gujarat. Raut managed to flee despite being handcuffed to the metal bar in his berth on the AC two-tier coach.
Now, the police have launched a massive manhunt for him, who they suspect to have escaped in Ajmer.
The police team consisting of four policemen boarded New Delhi-Ahmedabad Swarna Jayanti Express from New Delhi in the AC coach. After having dinner, the team went to sleep and according to procedure, handcuffs were put on Raut to prevent his escape.
“It was sometime between 2 am and 3 am when the train was crossing Ajmer junction that one of the police constables woke up and found Raut missing from his berth. The handcuffs were left latched to the railing but there was no trace of Raut,” said Saurabh Singh, superintendent of police, Anand. Raut was allotted the upper berth while other four policemen took the adjacent and lower berths. Singh said, “After he was found missing, the team checked the train and then alerted the RPF. The joint team searched for Raut in Ajmer and also checked nearby stations. They went through the CCTV footage at the stations but no luck.”
The Anand police had registered a case in March this year on the complaint of one Aamir Malik, a resident of Pandoli village in Anand district at Gujarat. Malik had claimed that Raut, an Ayurvedic practitioner, along with others including some people from his village had taken him to Delhi where his kidney was removed without his knowledge. Further investigations done by Mumbai Mirror in Pandoli village revealed that at least 11 people from the village had lost their kidneys in the racket allegedly run by Raut.
Anand police had been interrogating Raut who has denied his role in the racket and kept pointing to involvement of some other doctors. For further investigation and reconstruction of the crime scene, the Anand police team headed by inspector Haresh Vora had gone to Delhi three days ago. The team visited the makeshift operation theatre and several other places where the victims were kept before and after surgery and then left for Gujarat on Monday night.
Raut was to be produced in the court on Tuesday after which the Anand police were to start their probe on other suspects whose names had cropped up during the investigation. Raut’s brother Jeevan will also be questioned in connection with the case. Raut had named a few doctors from Nepal and Sri Lanka alleging that they were the ones who were conducting the surgeries at the makeshift operation theatre in Gurgaon.
Raut was acquitted in the case registered against him in Mumbai in the late 1990s and got bail in another kidney racket case registered by the CBI in Delhi. Two teams of Anand police have spread out in Jaipur and Ajmer to look for Raut; in the meantime, an inquiry will be conducted by the office of Superintendent of Police regarding his escape.
