Indian police charge suspected ringleader in kidney trafficking racket

T. Rajkumar Rao

KOLKATA,  (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Indian police have charged the suspected ringleader of an organ trafficking network accused of luring poor people to one of Delhi’s top hospitals to have their kidneys removed and sold, a police official said yesterday.

T. Rajkumar Rao
T. Rajkumar Rao

T .Rajkumar Rao was arrested late on Tuesday after police traced him to a house on the outskirts of the eastern city of Kolkata where he was living with his wife and infant son.

“He was arrested last evening and (will be) taken to Delhi for further interrogation and prosecution by the police,” a police official told Thomson Reuters Foundation on condition of anonymity.

The official said Rao was charged under various offences including removal of human organs without authority, commercial sale of organs, cheating and dishonesty, forgery and criminal conspiracy.

Police busted the illegal organ harvesting racket operating out of Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital on Thursday, arresting five people, including two assistants to a doctor.