A day after arresting him in not-so-dramatic circumstances from a hotel in Chitwan, police put Dr Amit Kumar, India’s kidney racket mastermind, in public view by organising a press conference at 11:30 am Friday in Kathmandu.
Kumar was brought to Kathmandu from Chitwan by a special team of police early morning and was being held at Hanumandhoka police station with two of his accomplices for interrogation.
Police officials told a packed crowd of media-men at the press conference organised at Metropolitan Police Cell in Ranipokhari that Kumar would be produced in court on Sunday since Friday and Saturday happened to be holidays. He will be charged of possessing more-than-permissible amount of foreign currency.
A bankdraft for Indian rupees 936,000, and Euros 145,000 and USD 18,900 in cash were recovered from his possession during his arrest.
A police source said that since Interpol had also issued red corner notice against Dr Kumar recently for his involvement in kidney racket in India, police officials are also discussing possibility of extraditing him to India.
Before being escorted out of the conference room, Kumar said, “I am just a doctor…not a kidney dealer. I will reveal all the truth by organising a press conference after my release.”
Dr Amit Kumar, the man dubbed “Doctor Horror” by the Indian media after being accused of having forced or duped around 500 people into donating their kidneys, was arrested from a hotel in Sauraha, Chitwan. Kumar was brought to Kathmandu at midnight amidst tight security. Police said they also recovered some fake documents from him which made it clear that he was trying to acquire a Nepali Citizenship and passport apparently to reunite with his family in Canada.
After the illegal kidney racket operated by Dr Kumar was busted by the India police, he had fled to Nepal. Following reports that he was the kingpin of the international racket in illegal kidney transplants, Dr Kumar had hogged the headlines in India with television channels reporting his linkages in Nepal saying that he was also operating a hospital here. nepalnews.com ag Feb 08 08