KANPUR The investigation into Kanpur’s illegal kidney transplant racket took a dramatic turn after investigators recovered a 19-second video showing key accused “celebrating” their illicit gains. The footage, retrieved from the mobile phone of arrested broker, Shivam Aggarwal, purportedly shows Dr Afzal and logistics manager, Parvez Saifi, sitting on a bed covered with over 50 bundles of ₹500 currency notes. The clip has become one of the most telling pieces of evidence of the scale of money the syndicate was generating.
Dr Afzal had earlier worked at Alpha Hospital in Meerut. Investigators say he was not only part of the surgical network, but also played a central role in sourcing donors. He allegedly operated a Telegram group through which prospective kidney donors and recipients were contacted and drawn into the network. Police believe the group was used to identify financially vulnerable donors and patients in urgent need of transplants, who were then routed through intermediaries to hospitals linked to the syndicate.
While Saifi, a resident of Ghaziabad with seven criminal cases against him in Meerut, including robbery and dacoity, was the syndicate’s logistics man. He arranged vehicles for the network, booking them under different names for members including Dr Rohit, Dr Afzal, Dr Mudassar Ali Siddiqui and others. He transported Dr Rohit’s surgical team from Meerut to Kanpur on three occasions at a rate of ₹10 per kilometre. DCP (west) SM Qasim Abidi said Saifi is currently being questioned and is believed to be among the most informed insiders in the syndicate.
“He has told us he had an equal share in the gang,” said Abidi.
A video found on Aggarwal’s phone also purportedly shows Manjinder, a resident of Tarn Taran in Amritsar, alleging that he paid ₹43 lakh, borrowed from acquaintances, to those connected with Ahuja Hospital for a kidney transplant that never took place. Manjinder, who has been on dialysis for several years, said he was approached at a dialysis centre in Mohali by a man named Navneet Singh, who connected him to intermediaries Jaspreet, Vikrant and Hasan, who promised to arrange the transplant. The money was collected in instalments. The transplant never happened. Police have dispatched a team to Chandigarh to trace him.
In the mean time, police will seek Aggarwal’s remand before a court. Abidi said his custodial interrogation was essential to answering several unanswered questions. “Only after taking him on remand will we get answers to many questions, including when transplants took place at Ahuja and Medilife hospitals, who the recipients were and details about the Punjab victim whose video was found on his phone,” he said.
Eight police teams remain deployed to trace the five absconding doctors – Rohit, Vaibhav, Amit, Afzal and Ali. The operators of Medilife Hospital in Maswanpur (Kanpur), which was found to be unregistered and has since been sealed, remain at large. Two others picked up for questioning in connection with the hospital, Rohan and Narendra, both from Kannauj, have been released and asked not to leave the city.
