Erode: The notorious kidney racket surfaced again with a weaver in Erode district being ‘rescued’ by the police just before a surgeon’s knife could remove his kidney in return for a few lakh rupees at a Kerala clinic on Tuesday.
The district administration here acted swiftly after the weaver’s wife petitioned the collector asking him for help to get back her husband, who she alleged had been taken away by a kidney tout luring him with a promise of Rs.5 lakh for his organ.
Police said weaver K. Ravi of Kasipalayam near here had accompanied a gang of touts to a private hospital at Ernakulam in Kerala for selling one his kidneys. “We stopped the surgery preparations underway and we are bringing him back from Kerala”, and official said. However, Ravi maintained that he had gone to Kerala for a short stay only because of differences with his wife. He had no intention to sell his kidney for settling a loan, he told reporters here.
Ravi’s wife Samboornam, 37, works as a tailor in a garment manufacturing unit. The couple has a 13-year-old daughter and an 11-year-old son. “I was shocked when my husband called me on Monday to inform he is in a private hospital in Kerala to donate one of his kidneys. He left home on Sunday without informing us about the purpose. It appears that he wished to sell a kidney to be able to repay the loan of Rs.3 lakh taken from a financier three years ago. We have only managed to pay the interest on the loan so far and there was pressure from the lender. A kidney broker from Avinashi (Tirupur district) convinced my husband he would get the needed money by selling his organ”, said Samboornam.
It appeared that the touts took Ravi to Ernakulam on Sunday and the transplant was fixed for Tuesday. The Erode police swooped down on the clinic in the nick of time. "Based on the wife's complaint, we sent a police team to Ernakulam, where we found that the kidney transplant was planned at the VPS Lakeshore Hospital. The surgery appeared legal as all the documentation was done right. A receiver from Avinashi was to get the kidney as per the plan. We stopped the transplant based on the wife's complaint that her consent had not been obtained. Ravi was rescued and he is travelling to Erode. Further inquiry will reveal the facts from the incidents", said district SP, Sivakumar.
Earlier, district collector Prabhakaran had responded to Samboornam's petition and got in touch with counterparts at Ernakulam to immediately stop the transplant surgery.
