Nepal police bust illegal kidney racket, arrest five

Kathmandu, Aug 31 (PTI): Nepal Police have busted an illegal kidney racket and arrested five people, including the kingpin, police said on Sunday.

Shyam Krishna Bhandari, 38, the kingpin of the racket and his accomplice were arrested on Saturday, while three others were arrested earlier, the Anti Human Trafficking Bureau of Nepal Police said. All those arrested are Nepali nationals.

Bhandari was involved in the kidney racket for the last five years. He had sent around 100 Nepali nationals from different rural areas of Nepal to Delhi, where their kidneys were removed and transplantation was performed in some private clinics, said the police.

Based on information provided by three people who were arrested on charges of operating an illegal kidney transplantation racket between Kathmandu and Delhi, the police arrested Bhandari and his accomplice Sujan Bharati from the Nepal-India border point in Birgunj, police said.

The group lured Nepalese nationals with the promise of providing NRs. 6 lakh each for a kidney. However, they ended up receiving just around NRs. 40,000 from them, police said.

The police also found that Bhandari was using an Indian Aadhaar Card for carrying out his illegal kidney racket in Delhi.

Cases are being filed against those involved in the illegal kidney racket under Anti Anti-Human Trafficking Act, under which a maximum NRs. 5 lakh fine and 10 years of imprisonment are awarded. PTI SBP RD RD

(This story is published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. No editing has been done in the headline or the body by ABP Live.)