Hyderabad: Three people have been arrested who allegedly lured a 33-year-old Hyderabad man and got his kidney removed in Turkey after promising to pay a sum of Rs 20 lakh, police said. Amrish Prathap, the head of the racket, and two of his associates, Sandeep Kumar, alias Rohan Malik, and a 37-year-old woman, were arrested from Delhi and produced before a court. They were then taken to Hyderabad on a transit remand, told Rachakonda Police Commissioner, Mahesh M Bhagwat.

The Commissioner mentioned that the accused involved agents and brokers and used social media to attract potential donors by offering them huge sums of money, and searched for rich patients who could spend around Rs 50 lakh to Rs 1 crore for kidney transplantation.

Amrish Prathap sent patients and donors to Sri Lanka, Egypt and Turkey and had successfully conducted around 40 transplantations.

The victim lodged a police complaint in February 2019 and stated that in July 2018, he had come across a Facebook post by Rohan Malik under the caption Kidney needed in India. The victim contacted Malik and was told that he would be given a huge sum of money if he sold his kidney, in addition to providing expenses for transportation, accommodation, documentation and medical examinations.

He accepted Malik’s offer of Rs 20 lakh and he went to Delhi in July 2018. He met the accused and all the required medical examinations were done, including cross-match test with the patient. In August 2018, Malik informed the victim about his travel to Turkey for surgery.

Malik and one Rithika Singh allegedly prepared fake documents for conducting the transplantation surgery at a hospital in Izmir city and sent the victim along with the patient and his family.

Following the surgery, the accused refused to pay him the promised money, thus leading to a clash. They threatened him that if he disclosed the matter, they would kill him. The complainant collected his passport and returned to India as he saw no other option in a foreign country.

Following the complaint, a case was registered under relevant sections of the IPC, the Transplantation of Human Organs Act and the IT Act.

Police discovered that Amrish Prathap had involved several doctors, diagnostic centres, government officials, agents and brokers in the racket. A special police team kept a vigil over the activities of the accused and a ‘Look Out Circular’ was issued against Prathap. On March 28 midnight, Prathap landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi from Singapore and was detained by the Immigration authorities.

Rachakonda police was informed, who, based on his information, arrested two of his associates in Delhi. (PTI)