Farmer's Viral Video Leads To Cross-Border Kidney Racket, 2 Doctors Arrested

A kidney racket whose network had spread across India has been busted after a farmer made a video on the matter. The video had gone viral.

It told the story of how the racket operated from India and all the way to Cambodia by charging Rs 80 lakh per kidney.

The police in Maharashtra's Chandrapur had been working on the case. The trail led to high-profile medical professionals in Delhi and Tamil Nadu. Two of them identified as Dr Rajarathnam Govindaswamy of Star Kims Hospital in Trichy and Dr Ravinder Pal Singh from Delhi have been arrested.

They allegedly charged kidney recipients between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 80 lakh per transplant, and paid impoverished donors Rs 5 lakh to Rs 8 lakh.

The police said the kidney racket is a shocking interstate and international organ trafficking scandal that first surfaced last month, when a debt-ridden farmer, Roshan Kude, released a viral video admitting he sold his kidney in Cambodia for Rs 8 lakh to pay off moneylenders.

The subsequent investigation by the Chandrapur police uncovered a sophisticated syndicate led by agents like Ramkrishna Sunchu and the doctors, who have been arrested.

The racket exploited impoverished victims by luring them with small sums. The illegal transplants were conducted in private hospitals across India and Southeast Asia.

Chandrapur's Superintendent of Police Sudarshan Mummaka told reporters the investigation has moved far beyond local boundaries and analysis of mobile records and technical data has mapped a complex web of cooperation between agents, donors, and specialised medical professionals.

The police are now scrutinising bank accounts and digital footprints to identify other medical facilities that may have served as "safe houses" for these illegal surgeries.

Roshan Kude, the farmer from Chandrapur, had contacted a "Kidney Donor Community" page on social media and eventually went to Cambodia to sell his kidney.

"The investigation into the moneylenders led us to a fake doctor in Solapur named Krishna, who acted as an agent," Mummaka said.

"Krishna, himself a former victim of the racket, allegedly facilitated the organ removal of 10 to 12 people in Cambodia for commission."

Investigators also found that multiple illegal transplants were allegedly conducted at the hospital in Trichy where Dr Rajarathnam Govindaswamy worked.