Rachakonda police busts illegal kidney transplantation racket, nine arrested

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda police arrested as many as nine persons in connection with an illegal kidney transplantation racket being operated by the management of Alakananda Hospital, located in Doctors Colony, Saroor Nagar.

Acting on credible information, on January 21, the Saroor Nagar Police and the SOT, LB Nagar Zone, in coordination with the DMHO, Ranga Reddy district, Telangana, busted the illegal kidney transplantation racket.

The arrested persons were identified as Dr Siddamshetty Avinash, General Surgeon, Dr Guntupally Sumanth, Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital, Ponnuswamy Pradeep and Suraj Mishra, both mediators and Narsagani Gopi, Ramavath Ravi, Sapavath Ravinder, Sapavath Harish and Podila Sai.

The police also seized a TATA Punch car, Rs 5 lakh cash, 10 mobile phones and an operation surgical material kit from the possession of the accused.

Disclosing the case details before the media at his LB Nagar camp office, Rachakonda Commissioner of Police G Sudheer Babu said Dr Avinash completed his MBBS in China and pursued a Diploma in Surgery in Pune, Maharashtra. He later worked in a hospital in Pune. In 2022, he and his partners took over Janani Hospital, located on Madannapet Road, Saidabad.

Modus Operandi

Due to financial difficulties, he was unable to manage the hospital and considered selling it. During this time, one Laxman, a resident of Visakhapatnam, approached him and proposed conducting illegal kidney transplantations (KTP) at the hospital. “Laxman assured Dr. Avinash would be paid Rs 2.5 lakh per surgery and he would handle the arrangements for doctors, assistants, donors, and recipients. Dr. Avinash was only required to provide the operation theater and post-operative care,” the CP said.

Agreeing to the proposal, Dr. Avinash facilitated the surgeries at Janani Hospital. From April 2023 to June 2024, illegal kidney transplants were conducted, with Dr. Avinash received Rs 2.5 lakh for each operation. He later discovered that a man named Pavan alias Leon, a resident of Vizag and the main organizer, along with his assistant Purna alias Abhishik from Vizag, managed the operations.

They brought in the main surgeons, including Dr. Raja Shekhar Perumal from Tamil Nadu and Dr. Sohib from Jammu & Kashmir, as well as operating theater assistants Shankar (Tamil Nadu), Pradeep, and Suraj (Karnataka). These individuals also arranged for donors and recipients. Before each surgery, Purna alias Abhishik would collect blood samples from the donors and recipients. If their blood group and Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) are matched, the KTP process will begin.

Rs 55–60 lakh collected from recipient

They collected Rs 55–60 lakh from each recipient, out of which Rs 5 lakh was given to the donor, Rs 2.5 lakh to Dr. Avinash, Rs 10 lakh to the lead surgeon, around Rs 30,000 to the five operating theater assistants, and the remainder was taken by the organizers and mediators. Due to administrative issues, Dr. Avinash closed Janani Hospital in June 2024.

In July 2024, Dr Avinash approached Dr. Sumanth, the Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital, who had completed his medical studies in Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Sumanth agreed to provide the operation theater for the illegal KTP surgeries, receiving Rs 1.5 lakh per surgery, while Dr. Avinash received Rs 1 lakh. They conducted about (20) KTP surgeries at Alaknanda Hospital in December 2024.

A team of doctors did large illegal kidney transplant (KTP) surgeries at Alaknanda Hospital, Janani Hospital, Aruna Hospital and other Hospitals in Hyderabad and various places in India. In connection with this case, the accused A-2: Dr. Guntupally Sumanth (Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital) and A-8: Narasani Gopi (Receptionist and Assistant to Dr. Avinash) was arrested on January 23. They were produced before the court and remanded to judicial custody, Sudheer Babu said.