Apart from Dr Palani Ravichandran (42), who police say is the mastermind behind the racket, four of his accomplices have also been arrested. Dr Ravichandran was arrested in Chennai on Tuesday and brought to Mumbai, where a court remanded him to police custody for seven days.

“Dr Ravichandran had agents working for him in Mumbai, Gujarat, MP, Rajasthan, Delhi and other places in the country and also in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. They lured poor, uneducated people to sell their kidneys for around Rs 3 to 4 lakh. However, once the kidneys were surgically removed, the accused would pay the donors only Rs 25,000 to 60,000 and also threatened them against lodging any complaint,” said Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Rakesh Maria. “Last year the accused sold kidneys of almost 100 people from Mumbai itself,” he said.

According to Maria, the donors were taken to two hospitals in Chennai — Bharathi Raja Hospital and New Bharathi Raja Hospital— where the kidneys were removed and transplanted.

Interestingly, according to information available with The Indian Express, the Authorisation Committee approving transplant surgeries in Tamil Nadu had cleared only six applications since February 1, 2007, of the Bharathi Raja Hospitals, where Dr Ravichandran had been operating. Whereas, according to reports, at least two surgeries were being conducted almost every week.

Managing Director of Bharathi Raja hospitals Dr C Natesan denied involvement of his hospitals in the racket. “Dr Ravichandran used to hire our operation theatre for surgeries and used to move his patients within a day or two. All consultations, tests and diagnosis were conducted at St Thomas Hospital with which he is associated,”he said.

“Preliminary investigations have revealed that the accused were mainly approached by residents of the Gulf countries and Malaysia for transplants. The lawyer who prepared bogus documents was paid Rs 2 lakh, the surgeons got Rs 2 lakh and the agent Rs 1 lakh. Dr Ravichandran used to earn about Rs 10-15 lakh per surgery,” said Maria.

According to the police, the organ trade came to light when one of the donors duped by a Mumbai-based agent approached the police. According to the police, the agent approached Jeetu Borkar (27), employed as a helper with a catering contractor, for selling his kidney for Rs 4 lakh. He was taken to Chennai and lodged in a house used to accommodate donors.

In Chennai, Maria said, Borkar was made to sign a few bogus documents by a lawyer working for the accused. The documents testified that Borkar was a relative of a Gujarat-based woman, who was to receive his kidney, police said.

Borkar, police said, was operated upon on August 21 at the Bharathi Raja Hospital and his kidney was transplanted in a Gujarat-based woman in the same hospital. While Borkar was paid only Rs 25,000, Rs 15 lakh was charged from the recipient.

Borkar’s complaint was registered on October 3 and the first arrest, Mumbai-based agent Mohammed Haneef Musabhai Mansuri was made two days later.