VIZIANAGARAM: The recent arrest of two racketeers who persuaded many women to sell off their uteruses by promising them heavy amounts brought to the fore the fact that the victims fell into the trap due to poverty and mounting debt.
On Tuesday evening, police nabbed two persons including a woman when they were conducting a meeting at one of the victim’s houses.
Surada Adilaxmi, the kingpin of the racket who worked as a sweeper at a corporate hospital in Vizag earlier, persuaded at least 15 women to sell off their uteruses by offering them heavy amounts of up to Rs 8 lakh. She had collected around Rs 5 lakh by charging between Rs 50,000 and Rs 1 lakh from each victim in the name of performing various diagnostic tests, saying that those procedures were necessary before the removal of uterus.
“Neck-deep in loans, I agreed to sell off my uterus after Adilaxmi offered me `8 lakh. Saying that after family planning procedure, the uterus is of no use, she convinced me. I took loans from my relatives and friends and paid Rs 80,000 for the lab tests to Surada Adilaxmi a month ago,” said Bhudevi, one of the victims and a resident of Vizianagaram.
According to K Rajeswari, another victim, Adilaxmi collected Rs 80,000 for laboratory procedures from her while the other victims paid somewhere between Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 to the Adilaxmi.
Mobile tracking help cops nab accused
Following the direction of SP G Pala Raju, Two-Town SI V Ashok Kumar and his team launched an undercover operation for five days to nab the racketeers. “Adilaxmi, a native of Rayagada district of Odisha shifted to Vizag after being separated from her husband. Introducing her as a staff nurse and her friend Medisetti Venkata Sreekanth as a medical officer from Raipur of Chhattisgarh, she started persuading some 15 women from urban slums in Vizianagaram, the SI said.
“We asked the victims to continue talks with the racketeers and used mobile tracking technology to nab them,” the SI said, adding that both the accused do not have any previous records of crime