India News | Mastermind of international organ trafficking mafia arrested in Hyderabad: Kerala Police

Kochi, Jun 1 (PTI) The Kerala Police on Saturday said they have arrested the alleged mastermind of the international human trafficking ring involved in organ harvesting.

Ernakulam Rural SP Vaibhav Saxena said Ballamkonda Ram Prasad, 41, also known as Pratapan, was the suspected mastermind of the mafia and was hiding in a hotel in Hyderabad.

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A special investigation team of the Kerala Police arrested Pratapan, a native of Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh, police said.

Police said that as per preliminary information received by them, many people carried out kidney transplant related transactions through the Andhra resident.

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The victims of the organ trafficking operation came from rural areas and the organs were believed to have been harvested in Iran, police said in a statement.

Pratapan had first contacted the organ trafficking mafia to donate his kidney, but as he was suffering from certain illnesses, his organ could not be harvested, it is claimed.

Later, he joined the group, became their main person and contacted the organ recipients through social media, police added.

He would send donors from India to Iran where they would be received by a certain Sabith Nasar, already in police custody, the statement said.

After the organ donation, the donors were sent back to India by Nasar, the statement said.

Besides Nasar and Pratapan, police also arrested one Sajith Shyam, suspected to be the one controlling the financial affairs of the gang, the statement said.

Nasar, a native of Valappadu in Thrissur district, was arrested two weeks ago from the Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) following a tip-off from central agencies.

All the accused have been charged under relevant provisions of the IPC and the Human Organ Transplantation Act, 1994.

A detailed investigation has been launched into the matter by a large team led by SP Ernakulam Rural, the statement said.

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