Assam: Kidney selling racket busted in Dibrugarh; police arrest “ringleader”

DIBRUGARH: 

The Dibrugarh police have busted an organ trafficking racket that has been luring people from economically poor backgrounds into selling their kidneys in the district for many years.

The Police on Sunday claimed to have arrested the “ringleader”, identified as Gautam Sonowal alias Girin Sonowal from Lalmati, of the racket from a hideout in Abhaypur. A case (213/21 u/s) under Section 370 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the Dibrugarh police station against him, the police added.

"Girin Sonowal and Bipul Konwar alias Bhaity have been running the racket for many years in the district. They used to target the poor and manipulate them into selling their kidneys for a paltry amount,” said Bitul Chetia, Additional Superintendent of Police (HQ), Dibrugarh, adding that Bhaity is currently out on anticipatory bail.

Chetia further informed that both the accused used to make huge profits by selling the organs for significant amounts of money and duping donors by paying them small sums.

The police said that they intensified their investigation into the matter after they arrested one, Samar Paul, for luring a tea garden worker into selling his kidney for Rs 3.5 lakh. During interrogation Samar revealed that the worker was initially approached by Sonowal, the police added.

He maintained that a person can donate a kidney willingly but if found trading the same for money, it is considered as a punishable crime under the Transplantation of Human Organ Act 1994.

(Edited by Shankar Kumar Turha)

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