Diagram showing the location of human kidneys. While the involuntary harvesting of human kidneys may have been relegated to urban legend in the Western world , a raid in India has shown the practice is real and has triggered an international manhunt . On January 24, police raided a clinic in Gurgaon , a satellite city of Delhi with two million inhabitants, and found that poor laborers were having kidneys removed, sometimes coerced at gunpoint. The kidneys were for transplantation to wealthy clients, both at home and abroad. In 1995, the Parliament of India made it illegal to donate organs except to close relatives. However, not all states have ratified the bill. Mohammed Salim is a day laborer who had a kidney removed at the clinic. "I was approached by a stranger for a job. When I accepted, I was taken to a room with gunmen," he told NDTV , a local television channel. "They tested my blood, gave me an injection and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I had pain in my lower abdomen and I was told that my kidney had been removed." As for Amit Kumar, Lal told CanWest News Service , "we know that earlier he was staying in Canada [but] right now, we are not sure if he is in Canada." Lal further said: "We are trying to get more information through Interpol today." The Times of India quoted an investigator with the Moradabad police, Manjul Saini: "We are certain his family is based in Canada and he visited them a fortnight ago." The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) says it has limited information on the investigation. "We can, however, say that Interpol-Ottawa has been in communication with Interpol-New Delhi about this case," said Sergeant Sylvie Tremblay. Two British citizens, who are alleged to have travelled to India to obtain kidney transplants, have had their passports confiscated by police. Their identities have not been announced and the British High Commissioner says it has not been informed. Speaking to The Guardian , deputy commissioner of Gurgaon, Rakesh Arya said that "two British people have not been let out of the country." A report by the Indo-Asian News Service (IANS) has identified Amit Kumar as an alias of Santosh Rameshwar Raut, once a prominent nephrologist , citing police sources. IANS tracked an arrest record dating back to 1993 for the man who is said to be in his fifties. The IANS estimates that Amit Kumar has amassed a fortune of billions of Indian rupees from the racket. He has also been disowned by his father, Rameshwar Raut, who said, "I had a misunderstanding with him and we have parted ways. Everyone in my village knows about my integrity. I am a freedom fighter and everybody knows this. He has made a mistake and put me to shame. One should never lie come what may. He was a big liar." "This problem comes from the economic disparity between the western hemisphere and the poor here. Western patients can simply buy organs and in this country we have no national health service," Sandeep Guleria, professor of medicine at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences told The Guardian. "Only 20\% in the country can access any kind of medical care. We need a much bigger deterrence in terms of jail sentences."
Diagram showing the location of human kidneys. While the involuntary harvesting of human may have been relegated to in the , a raid in India has shown the practice is real and has triggered an international . On January 24, police raided a clinic in , a satellite city of with two million inhabitants, and found that poor were having kidneys removed, sometimes coerced at gunpoint. The kidneys were for to wealthy clients, both at home and abroad. In 1995, the made it illegal to donate organs except to close relatives. However, not all have ratified the bill. Mohammed Salim is a who had a kidney removed at the clinic. "I was approached by a stranger for a job. When I accepted, I was taken to a room with gunmen," he told , a local television channel. "They tested my blood, gave me an injection and I lost consciousness. When I woke up, I had pain in my lower abdomen and I was told that my kidney had been removed." As for Amit Kumar, Lal told , "we know that earlier he was staying in Canada [but] right now, we are not sure if he is in Canada." Lal further said: "We are trying to get more information through Interpol today." quoted an investigator with the police, Manjul Saini: "We are certain his family is based in Canada and he visited them a fortnight ago." The (RCMP) says it has limited information on the investigation. "We can, however, say that Interpol-Ottawa has been in communication with Interpol-New Delhi about this case," said Sergeant Sylvie Tremblay. Two British citizens, who are alleged to have travelled to India to obtain kidney transplants, have had their passports confiscated by police. Their identities have not been announced and the says it has not been informed. Speaking to , deputy commissioner of Gurgaon, Rakesh Arya said that "two British people have not been let out of the country." A report by the (IANS) has identified Amit Kumar as an alias of Santosh Rameshwar Raut, once a prominent , citing police sources. IANS tracked an arrest record dating back to 1993 for the man who is said to be in his fifties. The IANS estimates that Amit Kumar has amassed a fortune of billions of from the racket. He has also been disowned by his father, Rameshwar Raut, who said, "I had a misunderstanding with him and we have parted ways. Everyone in my village knows about my integrity. I am a freedom fighter and everybody knows this. He has made a mistake and put me to shame. One should never lie come what may. He was a big liar." "This problem comes from the economic disparity between the western hemisphere and the poor here. Western patients can simply buy organs and in this country we have no national health service," Sandeep Guleria, professor of medicine at Delhi's told The Guardian. "Only 20\% in the country can access any kind of medical care. We need a much bigger deterrence in terms of jail sentences."
D
kidneys
R
urban legend in the Western world
in the
D
manhunt
D
Gurgaon
D
Delhi
D
laborers
D
transplantation
D
Parliament of India
D
states
D
day laborer
D
NDTV
D
CanWest News Service
D
The Times of India
D
Moradabad
D
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
D
British High Commissioner
D
The Guardian
D
Indo-Asian News Service
D
nephrologist
D
Indian rupees
D
All India Institute of Medical Sciences