The Guntur police in Andhra Pradesh busted a suspected kidney-selling racket on Thursday, as an organ donor from Narsaropeta was found with a fake Aadhar card.
According to the police, Sivanagamalleswar Rao was admitted in Guntur town's Vedanta Hospital with two failed kidneys, following which his friend tried to arrange a donor.
As the doctors insisted on ensuring that the kidney must belong to a relative, the accused, Venkateswarlu Naik, used a fake Aadhaar card under the name of Ravuri Ravi Chowdary, and claimed that he was a resident of Narasaraopeta.
The police said that a deal was struck, to pay Naik Rs 4 lakh, for 'donating' his kidney.
According to media reports. police are investigating how the local revenue officer issued a certificate to vouch for the donor's background.
The Deccan Chronicle reported that Tahsildar Kumari accused TDP leader and businessman Kapilavai Vijaya Kumar of recommending clearance of the certificate over the phone, since the patient was undergoing treatment at his son-in-law's hospital, a claim which was denied by Vijaya Kumar.
Following this, she lodged a complaint with the police, who registered cases dealing with forgery and cheating.
NDTV reported that Naik's details in the Aadhar card was changed in such a way, that it showed him as a person of the Kamma or Chaudhury caste, to ensure that it matched the caste of the patient.
"We are looking for Ravi, if he exists at all, and Madavath Venkat Naik, to get to the bottom of the case," Narsaraopet senior police officer Nageswar told NDTV.
This incident comes as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Thursday said its search facility for grievance redressal may have been misused but denied any breach or leak of Aadhaar data.
This came after a newspaper reported it bought unrestricted access to details of over one billion Aadhaar numbers -- for just Rs 500 and in 10 minutes.
"UIDAI assures that there has not been any Aadhaar data breach... The Aadhaar data including biometric information is fully safe and secure," an UIDAI statement said, adding that the data was secure with a "robust uncompromised security".
IANS inputs