South East District Police have reportedly made six arrests, including three members of staff at the local Apollo Hospital, who are believed to have sold at least four kidneys in Delhi so far, and three potential donors, including two rural women.
19 April 2016, 19:10 GMT
According to the police, the members of the network first sought information on the patients requiring kidneys and then lured poor donors based outside Delhi with the help of middlemen. While the donors got only Rs 300,000-400,000 (US $4470-5960) as compensation, the kidneys were sold at Rs 2.5-3 million (US $37,250-44,700) to their wealthy recipients. The middlemen made a cut of Rs 100,000-200,000 (US $1490-2980) per deal.
The arrests were made around 9:00 pm local time on Thursday at the Apollo Hospital in southeast Delhi.
Apollo Hospital has denied participating in kidney trading and claimed that they were fully cooperating with the police. According to an official statement they were a "victim of a well-orchestrated operation to cheat patients and the hospital."
