Kerala kidney racket: police expand investigation to Tamil Nadu

Chennai: A Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Kerala Police led by a DSP reached Coimbatore and Pollachi areas of Tamil Nadu to probe the kidney racket based out of Kerala with international connections after the main accused in a kidney racket, Sabith Nasar (30) revealed his Tamil Nadu connections to the investigation team.

IANS had earlier reported that Tamil Nadu Police have taken into custody a few people who were directly associated with the Kerala kidney racket's main accused Sabith. On May 19, Kerala Police arrested Nasar as he returned from Iran, following a tip-off from the Central intelligence agencies. On interrogation, he revealed that he was involved in organ trade and had taken twenty people to Iran for kidney transplant for money.

He also told interrogators that he had received Rs 5 lakh for each kidney transplant and that he had transferred around Rs 10 lakh to each donor. However, sources in the investigation team told IANS that the amount that Sabith and his associates received was much higher and that more people are involved in the racket including a Keralite doctor based out of Iran.

The Kerala Police team in Tamil Nadu will be conducting a thorough investigation on the contacts of the accused Sabith Nasar and will question a few people who are already in the custody of Tamil Nadu SIT. During the initial days of questioning, Sabith had revealed that people from Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and a few north Indian states were taken to Iran as organ donors, while he kept silent on the Tamil Nadu connection.

Police teams from both states are conducting a joint investigation on the number of people taken from Tamil Nadu to Iran for kidney trade and the money that was transferred.

Source: IANS