The city police today claimed to have busted a kidney sale racket and arrested five people, including two women in this connection.

The five accused have been identified as Miriyala Kranthi Durga Prasad, Bondili Prudhvi Raju, Malladi Naga Sai Durga, Godavarthi Uma Devi (all from Vijayawada) and Bondili Balaji Singh from Jangareddygudem of West Godavari district, Assistant Commissioner of Vijayawada, G Ramakrishna, told reporters here.

Revealing the case history, the official said, A man named Srinivasa Rao had been admitted to a private hospital in Hyderabad for kidney treatment. The kingpin of the racket Sai Kumar approached Rao and said they can arrange for a kidney from a donor at Rs 2 lakh.

When the patient agreed, Sai asked his agent Bondili Balaji Singh to look for a donor. Balaji then contacted his cousin Bondili Prudhvi Raju, through whom, he approached Miryala Kranthi Durga Prasad and offered some money for donating his kidney.

They also convinced Malladi Naga Sai Durga to act as Prasad's wife, Ramakrishna added. As per the rules, the kidney donor has to file an affidavit saying he knows the recipient. It has to be supported by the donor's kin, who files another affidavit saying the family has no objection to the procedure. The recipient then must secure a clearance from the authorities.

Naga Sai Durga acted as the wife of the donor Prasad. They filed an affidavit before the hospital using fake signatures of the Vijayawada tehsildar as well as his official seal. However, when the hospital sent the papers to the tehashildar office for verification, it was found that the documents had been forged, following which a police complaint was lodged, he said.

After investigating the case, Satyanarayanapuram police arrested the five accused, including the rubber stamp manufacturer, Uma Devi, who made fake rubber stamps of tehshildar. Police are now looking for the main accused Sai Kumar and further probe is on.
- PTI