Hospital coordinator Sadhna held

Nikhil Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 10

The coordinator of National Kidney Hospital Neena Rani, alias Sadhna, was arrested by the police on Monday night, triggering likely trouble for doctor Rajesh Aggarwal. Police had been considering Sadhna as the main conspirator who was aware about the illegal inter-state kidney racket and the extent ofthe role of doctor Rajesh behind the racket. She was also in direct touch with the kingpin Junaid Ahmed Khan of UP who was first arrested by police along with his three aides. Sadhna used to take Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh from Junaid for clearing the fake ID proofs of kidney donors and recipients. Police officials said Sadhna would prove a key to the stuck investigation and could clear the role of doctor Rajesh. She was a resident of the Kishanpura locality and had been escaping the arrest since the day she was nominated in the racket.

Meanwhile, coming in support of National Kidney Hospital doctor Rajesh Aggarwal whose name has cropped up in the ongoing inter-state kidney racket, patients from across the state today reached the Jalandhar Police Commissioner office where they stood in the favour of the doctor.

Meanwhile, an NGO held a protest at BMC Chowk and burnt an effigy of doctor Aggarwal.

Over a dozen patients whose kidney transplant operations were performed by Aggarwal said the doctor was a clean and honest man and he could not do anything illegal. Harjit Singh from Gurdaspur and Sushma Rani from Begowal Kapurthala said they had undergone a kidney transplant surgery at National Kidney Hospital in Jalandhar and they never faced any difficulty. “We urged the Police Commissioner that doctor Aggarwal was innocent and he should be given a clean chit,” they added.

Most of the patients alleged that since their kidney transplants were done by doctor Aggarwal, now due to the police investigation, the doctor had not been attending them. “The doctor has not been sparing time for us and our routine check-up has been hindered,” they said.

The Helping and Social Welfare Organisation, however, today burnt an effigy of Rajesh Aggarwal and demanded his immediate arrest. “It is quite surprising that over a week has passed since the kidney racket cropped up. Still, the police have not implicated the doctor in the case. When a case has been registered against hospital staff and other donors and recipients, delaying the implication of the doctor is sending wrong signals.

The NGO demanded that the investigation of the kidney racket should be handed over to a retired judge so that truth could prevail, Amrik Singh KP, representative of the NGO said.