Major suspect in organ trafficking case arrested in Kerala – News Karnataka

On Saturday, Kerala police announced that they had apprehended the alleged mastermind of the global organ harvesting and human trafficking network.
According to Ernakulam Rural SP Vaibhav Saxena, Pratapan, also known as Ballamkonda Ram Prasad, 41, was believed to be the mastermind of the mafia and was holed up in a hotel in Hyderabad.

Pratapan, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was arrested by a special investigation team of the Kerala Police, according to police.

Police said that as per preliminary information received by them, many people have carried out transactions related to kidney transplants through the people of Andhra.

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.

According to the report, Nasar sent the donors back to India after the organs were donated.

According to the statement, apart from Nasar and Pratapan, police also apprehended Sajith Shyam, suspected of being responsible for the gang's finances.

Nasar, who was arrested from Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL) two weeks ago after receiving a tip-off from central agencies, is a resident of Valappadu in Thrissur district.

The Human Organ Transplantation Act, 1994 and relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code were used to charge each of the accused.

A large team led by SP Ernakulam Rural has started a thorough investigation into the matter, the statement said.