VISAKHAPATNAM: A two-member gang, which cheated poor people out of their hard-earned money by promising huge sums for their kidneys came to light here. Police found that the racketeers administered several injections to the victims claiming it was a necessary procedure to be followed before retrieving their kidneys. Though they did not retrieve the organs from the victims, the procedure badly affected their health and each victim was made to cough up `45,000 towards treatment cost.
The fraud which had occurred a year ago, came to light on Monday night when 5 victims approached PM Palem police.
According to the victims, the fraudsters included wife of a retired assistant sub inspector of police and a fake doctor. Police in the preliminary investigation found that the duo had collected ` 45,000 from each of the victims in the name of treatment.
Hours after receiving the complaint, police nabbed the woman, M Lakshmi, a resident of BC Road in Gajuwaka and wife of retired ASI Appala Swamy. However, the main accused, Shankar alias Karthik, is yet to be nabbed.
According to PM Palem Inspector K Lakshma Murthy, it’s Lakshmi, who initially approached the poor and wooed them to sell their kidneys. She assured that each donor would earn as much as `35 to `40 lakh. Lakshmi would then take them to Shankar, who introduced himself to the victims as Karthik, a doctor at King George Hospital. “The modus operandi was that once the victims gave their approval to donate their kidneys, Lakshmi would take them to the KGH.
They were made to wait at some place. Then Shankar would emerge from the hospital wearing white coat and stethoscope to make them believe that he was indeed a doctor. He used to convince them that they would get `35 lakh each, but for that organ removal, they had to take some injections, for which they should `45,000,” the CI told TNIE.
After the victims paid the amount to the fake doctor, he used to visit their homes and give a series of injections to them.
The police said that five persons had approached them from various parts of the city, complaining that Shankar had administered such injections to them about a year ago. But he never turned up. The police said the duo enacted an elaborate drama just to cheat the poor and gullible people.
According to the victims, there were about 30 to 40 persons who fell into the trap of the cheats. The five victims informed police that they had agreed to donate their organs in the hope that their families would lead a happy life.