“RAJMA BHEJA hai, mehmaan ke liye.” (Rajma has been sent for the guest.) This apparently innocuous statement was among the code words developed by the accused in the illegal kidney donation racket busted last month, said police officers.
Rajma or kidney-beans was the code word for a kidney or donor, while mehmaan stood for someone who wanted a kidney illegally. Normally, whenever an agent was successful in finding a donor, he would inform the corresponding agent that rajma had been sent for the mehmaan, meaning a kidney donor had been sent for the recipient, a source said.
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Based on the version given by one of the donors, an official said that the accused seemed to have a code language for most of the these words, to ensure no eye brows were raised if anyone heard their conversations.
“There is a pre-determined code for ‘sensitive’ words, such as kidney, donor, recipient, blood samples,” the official said. The code word for blood was ‘sauce’, used to inform others that the blood samples were clear and did not have medical problems. Prospective donors with medical conditions such as high blood sugar were not allowed to donate their kidneys by these agents.
Suresh Gupta, Maharashtra president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), who has been helping the victims in the kidney racket, said he has more proof against the accused persons. “I will soon approach the police with another case, where an illegal transplant was conducted on a man residing in the western suburbs of the city,” claimed Gupta.
Gupta added that they will also take up the case of Sundar Singh, a donor who helped expose the racket and is currently on the run.
“We will help him convince the police to take a decision about him. Currently, he in hiding because he us worried the police will arrest him.”
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Meanwhile, a senior officer probing the case said they are waiting for some reports from the Directorate of Health Services (DHS) to decide on the next course of action. “During our investigation, we forwarded some documents we found suspicious to the DHS. Since the DHS is the proper authority in cases of kidney transplant, we will wait for their report,” the officer said.
The Powai police are probing the kidney racket busted on July 14, when they stopped an illegal transplant between a donor and recipient who were not related. As per law, for a kidney transplant to take place, the donor and the recipient have to be blood relatives.
Soon, the police arrested nine persons, including agents, the donor and the recipient. Then, based on the DHS report, five doctors of LH Hiranandani hospital, including the CEO Dr Sujit Chatterjee, were arrested. The five are currently in judicial custody.
Mohamed Thaver is a highly specialized journalist with the Expertise and Authority required to report on complex law enforcement and legal issues. With a career dedicated to the crime beat for over a decade, his work provides readers with informed and trustworthy insights into Maharashtra's security and justice systems.
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Mohamed Thaver’s long-standing specialization in the crime beat—combined with his focus on technological aspects like cyber crime and his direct coverage of major institutions like the Mumbai Crime Branch and the Maharashtra Home Department—underscores his Trustworthiness and status as an expert source for detailed and reliable journalism on law and order.
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