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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has widened its money-laundering probe into a multi-crore organ trafficking racket in Kerala by summoning and questioning senior doctors at major private hospitals in the state. The doctors now being summoned are reportedly members of internal transplant evaluation committees, mandated to examine the medical, ethical, and legal aspects of transplant cases before forwarding them to the district authorisation committees for final clearance at their respective hospitals.
As part of the investigation, the ED questioned Dr Mohammed Iqbal, a senior consultant at Lakeshore Hospital in Kochi, on Saturday, July 11, to determine whether doctors received illegal commissions to fast-track approvals for illicit surgeries.
According to reports, the ED had questioned the Lakeshore Hospital MD, SK Abdulla, the previous day as part of the investigation.
The ED investigation reportedly stemmed from the arrest of Kasargod native Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh by a Kerala police team on charges of organ trafficking. The First Information Report (FIR) was registered in May this year.
According to reports, medical certificates were forged and even police No Objection Certificates (NOCs) were fabricated to create false altruistic links between donors and recipients. Under organ transplant rules, donors unrelated to recipients must be cleared by a government-authorised district authorisation committee. Hospitals can proceed only after receiving the committee’s approval and supporting documents.
According to reports, the police suspect that around 20 transplants were carried out across hospitals through this racket. The donors reportedly received a smaller amount, with middlemen pocketing it, while recipients are believed to have paid between Rs 20 lakh and Rs 25 lakh for a transplant.