6 held for illegal blood trading

During interrogation,one of the arrested accused,Amit Kumar Pandey alias Deepak,admitted to the illegal trading of blood.

On his information,police conducted raid at his residence in Thakurganj and arrested three more persons. Pouches filled with blood,plasma,platelets,serum,fake stamp seals,stickers and authority letters of the CSMMU were found from the house along with labels of several blood groups. The police also found equipment used in blood transplant and packing of blood. The recovered blood and plasma samples will be sent for examination. “The accused were running a laboratory,where blood was collected from donors and packed in empty pouches. This was being done without testing the blood,” said in-charge of Thakurganj police station PK Srivastava.

Besides mastermind Pandey,the other arrested are Chintu,Amresh Singh,Dharmendra Singh alias Montu,Mayank Dwivedi and Mridul Dwivedi.

Pandey told the police that they were in the business for the last four years and had sold around one lakh units of blood. The accused would give Rs 300 to each donor and sold the blood to needy for Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,200.

Pandey,who worked at a cycle stand at the CSMMU,began illegal blood trading after coming in contact with Alok Dwivedi,son of a retired CSMMU official. Pandey then took a house on rent to manage the business. Alok Dwivedi is absconding.

The police suspect several government officials could be involved in the racket and have already identified 14 suspect people. “Teams have been formed to trace them,” said Circle Officer,Chowk,Vinay Chandra.

The CSMMU has also decided to conduct an internal probe over the issue. “We had received a complaint from Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital nearly a fortnight ago about blood pouches carrying the CSMMU label. After verification,it was found that they were not from our blood bank,” said Dr Ashutosh Kumar,in-charge of the CSMMU blood bank.

“We will form a committee and investigate the matter internally. We are also planning to introduce a hologram on our stickers for proper identification to control such illegal business,” said Dr SN Shankhwar,Chief Medical Superintendent of CSMMU. “There are clear instructions on the blood packets to dispose them off after use,in the absence of which,they can be reused in a wrong manner,” added Dr Kumar.