Firm medical, technical proof in chargesheet to strengthen case against docs, says SIT

Nikhil Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 25

The 855-page supplementary chargesheet filed today in a court in the infamous kidney racket against the 17 accused, including four doctors, is set to tighten the noose around the doctors and the other persons involved in the racket.

The special investigation team (SIT) believed that it had submitted strong technical and medical evidence with the chargesheet to prove the involvement of the doctors in the racket.

The chargesheet has been filed after a strong exercise by the SIT, comprising DCP Jalandhar Sandeep Sharma, ADCP-I IPS J Elanchezhian, ADCP IPS Alka Meena, ADCP II Amrik Singh Powar and SHO Navdeep Singh.

Police Commissioner Yurinder Singh has also been overseeing the investigation. IGP, Crime, Varinder Kumar, newly appointed supervisory officer in the infamous kidney racket, also held a series of deliberations with the SIT members before filing the chargesheet. Based on the chargesheet, the court has now told all accused to be present in the court on March 29. SHO PS 7 Navdeep Singh filed the chargesheet in the court.

Chargesheet against 17

The chargesheet has been filed against urologist Rajesh Aggarwal, his wife Deepa Aggarwal, nephrologist Sanjay Mittal, his wife Suman Mittal (Deepa’s co-partner in hospital), Sunil Kaul and his wife Chandra Kaul of Dharamsala, Mahinder Khurana and his wife Sujata Khurana of Delhi, Poonam Jain, her son Ayush Jain and husband Pardeep Jain of Delhi, Jyoti Arneja, her sons Ankit Arneja and Ankur Arneja of Delhi, Ful Kumari of Ludhiana, Manjit Rani of Jalandhar and Sudesh Kumari of Kapurthala. The four doctors, mentioned in the chargesheet, have already got interim relief from the court. Excluding four doctors, others mentioned in the chargesheet are donors, recipients and fake donors. The first chargesheet was filed on September 29 against six accused, namely Junaid Ahmed Khan of Faridabad, Vardaan Chandar Rao of Lucknow, Kuldeep Kumar of Faridabad, Saboor Ahmed Khan of Lucknow, Sadhna of Kishanpura and Harvinder of Rahimpur .

DRME’s statement, letter strongest evidence against hospital docs

As per the police, they have attached enough evidence with the chargesheet which could prove that illegal transplants were taking place in the National Kidney Hospital with the connivance of doctors and others. “We have attached the statement of Directorate of Medical Education and Research (DRME) that points finger towards the hospital for carrying out illegal kidney transplants without having mandatory permissions from the authorities. Furthermore, the recent letter of the DRME which it shot off to the 19 hospitals in the state citing that only two hospitals namely Dayanand Medical College (DMC), Ludhiana, and Fortis Hospital, SAS.Nagar, have the permission and hospital based authorisation committee to carry out transplants where donor and recipients are near relatives, could also strengthen our case in the trial.

It has been cleared in the letter (a copy of which is with Jalandhar Tribune) that if any hospital is found conducting transplants without permission, it will be illegal and liable to punished, a senior SIT official told Jalandhar Tribune.

ID proofs fabricated

The police has been investigating seven kidney transplants conducted by National Kidney Hospital conducted between July 4, 2014, and June 27, 2015. “We verified the ID proofs submitted by donors and recipients, proving the near relations and all others were found to be fabricated. Even the medical examination of the real and fake donor proved the scandal. The real donor mentioned in the documents was found having two kidneys intact, while the fake donor produced in place of the real donor was found having only one kidney. This clearly shows how things were manipulated to carry out illegal transplants, a police official revealed.

Doc received direct payment in his bank account

As per the police, the doctor also received around Rs 1.75 lakh in his bank account directly from the patient which is also being taken as constructive evidence.

Dr Puneet Grover to join investigation soon

Dr Puneet Pal Singh Grover, a junior surgeon in the hospital, may join investigation in the days to come. He had recently got interim relief from court. "We will only chargesheet Dr Puneet once he joins investigation to clear his role in the illegal transplants. His role is being verified as of now," a police official said.