ED widens organ trade probe, summons hospital committee doctors in Kerala
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has expanded its investigation into the alleged organ trafficking racket in Kerala, summoning senior doctors who served on the internal transplant evaluation committees of private hospitals. This follows earlier raids and questioning of hospital administrators.
These committees are legally required to assess the medical, ethical, and legal aspects of transplant cases before forwarding them to government-authorised district authorisation committees for final approval. Investigators are scrutinising whether committee members deliberately overlooked suspicious cases or facilitated illegal transplants. Financial records are being examined for evidence of kickbacks or commissions.
A senior consultant at a leading Kochi hospital has been questioned, and more doctors are expected to be summoned. The ED is probing the proceeds of crime allegedly generated by prime accused Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra of Kasaragod, who is accused of coordinating an inter-district trafficking network. Officials are examining whether hospital managements and transplant coordinators colluded with him or whether the racket exploited systemic loopholes.
Under organ transplant rules, donors unrelated to recipients must be cleared by a district authorisation committee, usually under a medical college. Hospitals may proceed only after receiving the committee's approval. Investigators have reportedly found that the racket forged medical certificates, letterheads, and police No Objection Certificates to fabricate false altruistic links between donors and recipients.
The ED's action follows the Kerala Police's busting of the network, which preyed on the poor and financially distressed. Police suspect at least 20 dubious transplants were carried out, with recipients paying between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh per transplant, while donors received only ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh. Middlemen pocketed the difference.
Najeeb was arrested by Kerala Police from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, and faces nearly a dozen criminal cases. His wife Rasheeda and several alleged associates have also been arrested for forgery and recruiting donors from Ernakulam and Kollam districts.
