Hiranandani Hospital: Kidney patient shows hired donor as wife, both arrested minutes before transplant

Two others, both alleged agents, were detained for questioning. Bhisen was previously arrested in a similar case in 2007. The surgery was stopped at 12.30 pm, minutes before it was to start, after social worker Rajeev Pawar approached the complainant, Mahesh Tanna, an office-bearer of the Bahujan Samaj Party, the police said.

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According to the police, Pawar showed Tanna copies of Jaiswal’s ration card, his marriage registration certificate, birth certificates of Jaiswal and his wife Rekha Devi, a Prospective Donor Form 1B filled by the arrested woman, a false statement of the woman notarised by an advocate, and an empty prescription form signed by a doctor at the hospital.

Tanna then called the police control room for help and showed to doctors, and the policemen, the documents suspected to be forged. Both Jaiswal and the woman were all set to be operated upon. “The surgery was stopped. The accused were brought to the police station later and inquires are being made,” said Vinayak Deshmukh, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone XI.

A senior police officer said two other men had been detained for allegedly helping the accused forge the documents.

Transplants are allowed only between blood relatives and in case the donor is not a resident of Maharashtra, a panel of doctors at St George Hospital screen and approve of him/her. The accused circumvented the procedure by making the donor woman pose as Jaiswal’s wife,” said the officer.

The police claimed that authorities at Hiranandani hospital did not look closely at the forged papers. “We will verify whether anyone at the hospital was aware of the forgery,” said the officer.

In a statement issued to the media, the hospital said, “A husband and wife were slated to undergo a kidney transplant surgery at our hospital today. The hospital got to know that it may be a case of false identification and the couple are not related. The hospital administration immediately swung into action and cancelled the surgery. No organ was retrieved from the donor.

We cooperated with the police and shared all the legal documents submitted by the couple to the Institutional Ethic Committee as part of the approval process (as mandated by law). The police are investigating the matter and the hospital is fully supporting the police investigate the matter thoroughly. We are bringing this matter to the attention of other healthcare service providers and health authorities.”

Bhisen was previously arrested by the Mumbai Police Crime Branch in 2007 for allegedly convincing a man named Jeetu Borkar to part with his kidney for Rs 4 lakh. Borkar was allegedly operated upon by a Chennai-based nephrologist and was paid only Rs 25,000 for his organ. After Borkar filed a police complaint, the police arrested Bhisen, the nephrologist and two other agents. All of them are now out on bail.

The trial in the 2007 case is pending in the Bombay City Civil and Sessions Court, with Borkar allegedly remaining incommunicado.

Thursday’s racket was brought to light by a 20-year-old Rajasthan resident who had been working with Bhisen but also regularly tipping off Pawar, the police said. Just like Borkar in 2007, said a senior officer, the whistleblower had been promised Rs 5 lakh for his right kidney in March but was paid only Rs 25,000. “He would make two copies of the forged documents, sending one to Bhisen and another set to Pawar. Pawar approached the complainant after gathering sufficient evidence,” said the officer.

Dr Sujit Chatterjee, CEO of Hiranandani hospital, said they would check their systems. “Notaries have been submitted. Now, who are we to contest these items? The government should also check how to streamline this… We go by exactly each letter of the law,” he said.

Asked about an empty prescription note with the alleged signature of a hospital doctor, Chatterjee said the prescription note was a fake. “The signature on the sheet and the actual signature of that doctor do not match. On Thursday afternoon, we gave a demonstration of the signatures before the police. The prescription pad is forged,” he added.