Ex-Apollo man in kidney net

A former marketing executive of Apollo Gleneagles Hospitals and an agent of an associated information centre were among the three men arrested on Saturday night on the charge of being involved in the kidney racket unearthed last week.
“Sandipan Das, the former executive, and agent Prabudhha Bhattacharya were key players,” said a police officer investigating the case.
The cops came to know about Das and Bhattacharya from Mithun Chatterjee and Hriday Kumar Dubey, who were arrested at the Bypass hospital on February 2.
“The duo said Das and Bhattacharya had asked them to arrange for a kidney at the earliest for a doctor from Bihar who had been suffering from renal failure,” the officer said.
The third accused arrested on Saturday night was Pradip Mondal, who gave the police the slip on February 2.
Last Friday, the cops had arrested a woman, Chandana Mukherjee, in whose flat in Thakurpukur the Delhi-based alleged kingpin of the racket, Manik Chowdhury, used to stay during his visits to the city.
The cops had laid a trap for Chowdhury, who was supposed to fly to the city in the first week of February to procure a kidney for the doctor, but he did not turn up.
The sleuths said the doctor had first gone to Punjab for a kidney transplant. “There he heard about Sandipan who, he was told, could arrange for him a kidney at Apollo. He headed straight for Calcutta, got himself admitted in the hospital for dialysis and settled a deal with Sandipan,” said an investigator.
An Apollo official said: “Sandipan used to work in our hospital till two years ago. Prabudhha, too, is not on our staff. He is an employee of one of the information centres in the districts that send patients to city hospitals, including Apollo, against a commission.”
Sources in the hospital, however, said they were aware that certain agents had lured people into selling their kidneys.
The police learnt about the racket with countrywide links following the arrest of Mithun and Hriday.
Suman Rudra, an unemployed youth of Jagaddal, had approached Mithun for a job. On February 2, Mithun introduced Suman to Hriday and Pradip, who took him to Apollo on the pretext of finding him a job.
Suman became suspicious on being told that he would have to undergo a blood test. When he learnt that the test was for a kidney transplant, he raised an alarm.
Hospital guards rushed in and caught hold of Hriday but Pradip managed to flee. A police team rushed to the spot and arrested Hriday and Mithun.
The cops said that of the six arrested persons, three — Mithun, Hriday and Pradip — had sold their kidneys before joining the racket.
Sandipan, Prabudhha and Pradip were produced in a Sealdah court on Sunday and remanded in police custody till February 16.