Visakhapatnam: A doctor and five people have been arrested in connection with a kidney racket case in Visakhapatnam.
They have been charged with violations of Code of Criminal Procedure sections 307, 326, and 420 in India. It's conceivable that more suspects will be apprehended.
Prameswara Rao, a doctor at a private hospital, along with middlemen Kamaraju, Srinu, Shekhar, Elina, and Kondamma, were arrested on Sunday, according to police.
At a press conference, Visakhapatnam Police Commissioner Trivikram Varma said the gang was preying on low-income households.
The city's Tirumala Hospital, according to the police chief, performs kidney surgeries. Police investigations revealed that recently two kidney operations were performed on Vinay Kumar and Vasupalli Srinivasa Rao.
Vinay Kumar, a local of Visakhapatnam's Vambay Colony, went to the police two days ago to report that an agent had convinced him to sell one of his kidneys. The agent promised that this could fetch him Rs 8.5 lakh but after removing his kidney at a private hospital, he was paid only Rs 2.5 lakh on December 16, 2022.
The police investigated whether or not any doctors were part of the criminal enterprise. It turned out that two surgeons were instrumental in a kidney transplant.
It has been suggested that Narla Venkateshwar Rao was involved. Before, he spent time behind bars for his involvement in a kidney racket.
The district authorities in Vizag shut down Tirumala Hospital on Saturday in response to the unlawful kidney transplants.
The hospital has been charged with criminal activity by the authorities since it was functioning illegally.
The government has increased its vigilance in response to the spike in reported instances of illegal kidney transplants, according to Health Minister Vidadala Rajini.
She claimed that probes have been launched into allegations that Tirumala Hospital in Pendurthi was running a kidney trafficking ring.
The minister of health has pledged that no one implicated in the scam will be left unscathed. She stated that a state-level group would be formed to propose steps to avoid such occurrences.—Inputs from Agencies