BENGALURU: A woman from Ramanagaram, who had taken a loan to fight the gram panchayat elections three years ago, has sold one of her kidneys to clear mounting debts.
The incident came to light on Wednesday when the woman’s husband admitted her to the government hospital at Magadi for treatment of post-kidney removal surgery.
Sashikala Venkatesh, a daily-wage worker of Nagashettihalli in the district, had contested the panchayat elections from Taggikuppe GP and lost by two votes.
The 28-year-old had raised a loan of about `2 lakh to fight the election, but together with the interest, her outstanding loan amount had crossed `3 lakh.
When money-lenders started pestering her to return the loan, she and her husband Venkatesh, also a daily-wager, shifted to Bengaluru where she joined a garment factory to clear off the dues. But still she could not manage it.
Meanwhile, the money lenders traced the couple to the city and began to put pressure on them to pay. It was then that Sashikala decided to sell her kidney.
During this period she came in contact with a garment dealer from Cubbonpet, Srinivas, who was looking for a donor for his mother, who was suffering from kidney failure. He offered to pay Sashikala `3 lakh for her kidney.
Dr Chandra Gupta, Superintendent of Police, Ramanagaram, said Srinivas allegedly created fake records to show that his wife Shweta was donating her kidney to her mother-in-law.
As is mandatory, an inquiry was conducted by Cubbonpet police relating to the donation. On the basis of these documents, Sashikala’s kidney was transplanted on Srinivas’s mother at a private hospital in Mysuru.
Though she has cleared her loan, her sutures are yet to be removed and she is now bed-ridden. When she couldn’t bear the severe abdominal pain, she confided in her mother .
And her mother blamed her son-in-law for her daughter’s health problems. A flustered Vankatesh took Sashikala to Nagashettihalli and admitted her in the government hospital. It is learnt that fearing backlash, Venkatesh has gone underground.
The Magadi police have registered a suo motu case and have begun investigation. An officer said that it was unclear whether this case was linked to an earlier kidney racket.
Karnataka State Women’s Commission chairperson Manjula Manasa said, “It is true that a kidney was sold to a person named Srinivas. The lady is not in a condition to answer any questions. We have recommended to the state government to open an awareness unit in every district to prevent suicides and curb kidney rackets.”
Vinod Kumar, State Advisory Committee for Organ Transplant, said kidney transplant entitles certain procedures like police verification, consent from donor, document verification and more importantly no money should be involved.