NEW DELHI, 2 February 2008 — Interpol yesterday issued warrants for the arrest of the man behind a kidney transplant racket in Gurgaon, Amit Kumar, and his brother Jeevan Rawat.
Interpol said in an international red corner notice: “40-year-old Kumar and Rawat, aged 36, are both subject of national arrest warrants for illegal transplanting of kidneys, cheating and criminal conspiracy.”
Kumar, who has come to be known as “Dr. Horror,” had been engaged in running the operation from a yet unidentified location in Canada, where he lives with his family. He had been engaged in supplying hundreds of kidneys, bought or coerced from poor donors, to rich recipients.
The multimillion-dollar scam emerged last week after Indian police raided several hospitals and houses in Gurgaon, a New Delhi suburb. A doctor, several intermediaries and hospital staff have been arrested over the past week.
The men behind the illegal operation are believed to have charged up to two million rupees ($50,000) for a kidney from clients from across the globe, according to Gurgaon police.
The kidneys are believed to have come from poor migrant workers, some of whom have said they were kidnapped and drugged — although police say the illegal donors were likely to have been paid around 40,000 rupees.
Under India’s “Transplantation of Human Organs Act,” kidney transplants are allowed only if the organ is donated by a blood relative or spouse, or there is a swap agreement between two needy families.
All transplants must be cleared by the government.
