Organ trade racket: ED expands probe, summons doctors part of Kerala hospitals’ internal evaluation committees

Close on the heels of simultaneous raids at major private multi-speciality hospitals in Kerala and the subsequent questioning of their top administrators, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has widened its probe into the alleged multi-crore organ donation racket by bringing senior doctors under its ambit.

Doctors now being summoned are reportedly members of the internal transplant evaluation committees of their respective hospitals. These committees are mandated to examine the medical, ethical, and legal aspects of transplant cases before forwarding them to the government-authorised district authorisation committees for final clearance.

Among those questioned is a senior consultant at a leading Kochi hospital. More doctors from other institutions are expected to be summoned in the coming days.

Investigators are probing whether committee members overlooked suspicious cases or deliberately facilitated illegal transplants. Financial records are also under scrutiny to determine if doctors received illicit payments in the form of kickbacks or commissions to fast-track approvals.

The ED is investigating the proceeds of crime allegedly generated by the prime accused, Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra of Kasaragod, through organ trafficking. Officials are examining whether hospital managements and transplant coordinators colluded with him, or whether the racket exploited systemic loopholes without their knowledge.

Under organ transplant rules, donors unrelated to recipients must be cleared by a government-authorised district authorisation committee, usually functioning under a medical college. Hospitals can proceed only after receiving the committee’s approval and supporting documents. Investigators have reportedly found that the racket forged medical certificates, letterheads, and even police No Objection Certificates to fabricate false altruistic links between donors and recipients.

Police on alert as racketeers forge papers for organ trade

The ED’s action follows the Kerala Police’s busting of an alleged trafficking network that preyed on the poor and financially distressed. Police suspect at least 20 dubious transplants were carried out across hospitals under the racket’s aegis, with vulnerable donors lured by money. While recipients are believed to have paid between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh for a transplant, donors reportedly received only ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh, with middlemen pocketing the rest.

Najeeb, arrested by a Kerala Police team from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, is accused of coordinating the inter-district trafficking network and faces nearly a dozen criminal cases. His wife Rasheeda and several alleged associates have also been arrested for their roles in forgery and in identifying and recruiting donors from Ernakulam and Kollam districts.