Kanpur: The inter-state kidney racket busted in Kanpur on Sunday, after cops received a tip-off about a gang casually discussing their plot at a local restaurant, has now assumed international overtones. Police said, the gang had roped in wealthy recipients from countries as far as Sri Lanka and Turkey after trapping gullible donors whose kidneys and livers were removed at top hospitals in Delhi.The multi-crore racket flourished for six years and straddled three states of Delhi, UP and West Bengal.On Monday, a special investigation team was formed to get to the bottom of the racket and two separate teams were dispatched to Delhi and Kolkata to intensify the probe. Six gang members were arrested on Sunday, but the Kolkata-based mastermind is still on the run, said senior superintendent of police, Kanpur, Anantdeo.“Interrogation of those arrested revealed doctors of several reputed private hospitals of Delhi are involved in the illegal business. More complaints will surface,” said SP (South) Raveena Tyagi. While the kingpin is from Bengal, his aides operated from Kanpur, Lucknow, Agra, Meerut, Noida and Delhi, she said.Days before the gang went bust, one of the members, Saboor Ahmad of Kakori, trapped a poor Lucknow resident, Vardan Chandra. “Saboor introduced him to the kingpin who prepared fake documents for his kidney transplant and asked Vardan to sell his organ to a patient, Madhukar Goyal. He was promised Rs 4 lakh, but received only Rs 2.5 lakh after transplantation,” said SHO Naubasta, Samar Bahadur Yadav. Saboor is now in police custody.But, Vardan’s trauma only multiplied. He needed the money from donating his kidney to save the life of his daughter, Pihu, who was suffering from a congenital heart disease. His daughter, however, died even before the treatment could begin,” said a police officer.

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