Kidney racket: Nine arrested by Rachakonda police in Hyderabad

Those arrested include Dr. Siddamshetty Avinash, a General Surgeon; Dr. Guntupally Sumanth, Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital; mediators Ponnuswamy Pradeep and Suraj Mishra; and Narsagani Gopi, Ramavath Ravi, Sapavath Ravinder, Sapavath Harish, and Podila Sai.

Hyderabad: The Rachakonda police along with Health Department officials have busted an illegal kidney transplantation racket being operated by the management of Alakananda Hospital, located in Doctors Colony in Saroornagar and arrested nine persons.

The arrested persons are Dr. Siddamshetty Avinash, General Surgeon, Dr.Guntupally Sumanth, Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital, Ponnuswamy Pradeep and Suraj Mishra, both mediators and Narsagani Gopi, Ramavath Ravi, Sapavath Ravinder, Sapavath Harish and Podila Sai.

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Police said Dr. Avinash completed his MBBS in China and pursued a Diploma in Surgery in Pune, Maharashtra. He later worked in a hospital at Pune. In 2022, he and his partners took over Janani Hospital, located on Madannapet Road, Saidabad.

Due to financial difficulties, he was unable to manage the hospital and considered selling it. During this time, a person named Laxman, a resident of Visakhapatnam, approached him and proposed conducting illegal kidney transplantations (KTP) at the hospital.

“Laxman assured Dr. Avinash that he would be paid Rs2.5 lakh per surgery and that he would handle the arrangements for doctors, assistants, donors, and recipients. Dr. Avinash was only required to provide the operation theater and post-operative care, ” said G Sudheer Babu, Police Commissioner, Rachakonda.

Agreeing to the proposal, Avinash facilitated the surgeries at Janani Hospital. From April 2023 to June 2024, illegal kidney transplantations were conducted, with Avinash receiving Rs 2.5 Lakh for each surgery. He later discovered that a man named Pavan alias Leon, a resident of Visakhapatnam and the main organizer, along with his assistant Purna alias Abhishek from Visakhapatnam managed the operations.

They brought in the main surgeons, including Dr. Raja Shekhar Perumal from Tamil Nadu and Dr. Sohib from Jammu and Kashmir, as well as operating theater assistants Shankar (Tamil Nadu), Pradeep, and Suraj (Karnataka). These individuals also arranged for donors and recipients.

Before each surgery, Purna alias Abhishek would collect blood samples from the donors and recipients. If their blood group and Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) matched, the KTP process would begin.

They collected between Rs 55– Rs 60 Lakh from each recipient, out of which Rs 5 Lakh was given to the donor, Rs 2.5 Lakh to Dr. Avinash, Rs 10 Lakh to the lead surgeon, around Rs 30,000 to the five operating theater assistants, and the remainder was taken by the organizers and mediators. Due to administrative issues, Dr. Avinash closed Janani Hospital in June 2024.

In July 2024, Dr. Avinash approached Dr. Sumanth, the Managing Director of Alakananda Hospital, who had completed his medical studies in Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Sumanth agreed to provide the operation theater for the illegal KTP surgeries, receiving Rs 1.5 Lakh per surgery, while Dr. Avinash received Rs 1 Lakh. They conducted about (20) KTP surgeries at Alakananda Hospital in December 2024.

Some of the team of doctors had made large illegal kidney transplant (KTP) surgeries conducted at Alakananda Hospital, Janani Hospital, Aruna Hospital and other Hospitals in Hyderabad and various places in India.