KOCHI: The NIA probing the Nedumbassery organ trafficking case has identified some of the recipients who travelled to Iran for kidney transplantation.
NIA has turned these identified recipients and donors as witnesses in the case after the probe revealed that the accused told them that organ donation and transplantation were legal in Iran, and promised them substantial amounts of money for donating organs.
Operations of the racket came to light after the arrest of a youth at Kochi airport in May this year. On May 18, officials of the Bureau of Immigration at the airport intercepted Sabith Korukulath, a resident of Valappad in Thrissur, on suspicion that he was involved in organ trade. An investigation revealed that Sabith worked for a gang under Ernakulam native Madhu Jayakumar. Madhu is still holed up in Iran.
Madhu’s friend Sajith Shyam, of Kalamassery, and Vijayawada native Bellamkonda Ram Prasad were later arrested by the police. The NIA took over the probe on July 1, and filed a chargesheet against four accused persons.
During the probe, NIA identified some of the donors and recipients who were approached by the racket. As per the chargesheet filed by NIA, the racket identified gullible youth with financial constraints from Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana and other states. Members of the racket would obtain the youths’ consent by promising money.
The donors were trafficked to Iran where their organs were harvested after collecting huge amounts of money from recipients from New Delhi, Jammu and Ghaziabad, among others, the probe revealed. The recipients were charged up to `50 lakh by the accused. NIA found that recipients belonged to higher strata of society and travelled to Iran to undergo organ transplantation.
In September, the Kerala High Court granted bail to Sajith Shyam, the second accused. Following this, Bellamkonda approached the NIA Court in Kochi with a bail plea claiming that charges against him were similar to that of Sajith. When the court considered the bail petition, NIA produced certain documents, including WhatsApp chats of the accused with others, revealing that he was actively involved in organ trafficking.
The NIA also retrieved several pieces of digital evidence from the mobile phone of Sajith. These included medical records, lab tests done by donors, their flight tickets to Iran as well as details about kidney transplant packages at hospitals in Iran.
Considering the evidence, the court had dismissed Bellamkonda’s bail petition, stating: “Perusal of the data collected by the investigating agency, produced in a closed envelope, would clearly indicate that the petitioner is actively involved in organ trafficking and hence it prima facie appears that he is part of a huge racket involved in organ trafficking.”
Gullible youths targeted
As per the chargesheet filed by the NIA, the racket identified gullible youth with financial constraints and obtained their consent by promising huge amounts of money
The donors were trafficked to Iran where their organs were harvested after collecting up to J50 lakh from various recipients
The NIA found that recipients belonged to higher strata of society and travelled to Iran to undergo organ transplantation