Unearthing a major kidney racket allegedly involving doctors as well, the Dharmapuri police on Monday arrested a broker operating in the districts of Dharmapuri, Salem, Namakkal, Erode and Coimbatore for a decade. Along with the broker, a donor, who had given his kidney, was also arrested.
According to the police, they received a complaint of illegal kidney transplantation in the district from the Health Department. A special team formed by SP Asra Garg began a probe and arrested N S Ayyavu (51) of Dhanalakshmi Nagar in Sankagiri taluk. He was suspected of operating in Dharmapuri district.
Police sources said Ayyavu was arrested when he was getting a person called S Balasubramaniyam (40) of Maniyampadi in Pappireddipatti taluk to sign an affidavit for donating his kidney to P Ramesh (33) of Podippatti in Udumalpet taluk upon receipt of an advance cash amount.
Upon interrogating Ayyavu, the police learnt that he had been in the business of illegally selling kidneys for the past decade. Ayyavu would identify vulnerable people who were in dire need of money. Whenever a patient in need of a kidney approached him, he would obtain an affidavit from both the donor and the recipient stating that they were willfully entering into an agreement on the issue.
A kidney would cost anywhere between `1.50 lakh and `2.50 lakh.
Meanwhile, in Namakkal, the police are searching for a tout who is allegedly part of the illegal kidney racket. Based on information provided by Ayyavu, a special police team led by Anbalagan, a sub-inspector from Dharmapuri, swooped down on Seenivasan in Periamanali near Velagoundanpatti at Namakkal on Monday.
However, the tout fled the area before the police arrived, informed sources said.