New Delhi: The 24-year-old MBA student Jaideep Sharma’s friend went missing last September from his hometown Sikar in Rajasthan which made him believe that this was related to the kidney racket.
Jaideep’s friend, Rajesh Mehla had been telling him about his plans to donate his kidney for Rs 10 lakh to help improve his family’s financial condition.
Jaideep secretly to track his friend, went to Delhi, where he went through the pre-procedure of donating the kidney. He conducted a sting operation without even telling his family.
According to HT, on Thursday, when he was about to donate his kidney, Delhi Police team that had been shadowing him all through, raided Batra Hospital in South Delhi and “rescued” him. “I have heard that four racketeers have been arrested but my friend remains missing,” Jaideep told on Friday.
Mehla had told Jaideep about the agent who was involved in the deal, so when Mehla disappeared, he decided to pursue the same agents. He reached out to them through email and soon received a response.
But the racketeers had multiple layers of screening to ensure that Jaideep was a genuine donor and not a policeman laying a trap. “Once they agreed to buy his kidney for Rs 4 lakh, he contacted me and requested me to conduct a sting operation,” said Sukesh Ranjan, input editor of News24 channel.
“Sharma knew the risks involved in what he was doing but he is fearless. Once we were sure of his confidence, we contacted senior Delhi Police officers who approved our operation and confirmed that they would be with us throughout,” said Ranjan.
Over the next 40 days, Jaideep did as the racketeers said to avoid any suspicion and at the same kept updated the police and the TV team about every move. News24 reporter, Rahul Prakash, posed as Sharma’s friend in the operation.
“Sharma would also conduct sting operations on the racketeers when it was not possible for us to step into the scene,” said Prakash. By the end, the police had 200 hours of video evidence that is expected to go a long way in nailing the accused.
At the time, Sting was about to end on Thursday afternoon, Jaideep was in the operation theatre at Batra Hospital in Delhi. “I was confident that the police would rescue me before the doctors would take out my kidney,” said Jaideep.
After rescuing him, the police arrested four middlemen involved in the racket and are set to question some doctors and staffers from Batra Hospital.
Meanwhile, the hospital said: “Batra Hospital conducts all renal transplants fairly and under strict supervision. All related and unrelated transplants are vetted by a committee. All the transplant act guidelines are followed. All documents are checked and the proceedings of the committee are recorded. There is no involvement of the hospital in any wrongdoing. The hospital has and will fully cooperate with the police and earnestly assist in finding out the culprit.”