Two years ago, RAB had arrested five people from Bhatara in the capital for luring low-income people to sell their kidneys. RAB later registered a case in this regard under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act 1999. After investigating for over a year, the police finally filed a charge sheet in the court against five accused.
According to the case report, accused Shahidul Islam and others used to offer money to less educated people across the country by luring them to sell their kidneys. Later they would sell these kidneys to rich kidney patients for exorbitant amounts of money. He also used Facebook to entice people to sell their kidneys. Russell, one of the main members of this syndicate, is now in India. A review of the charge sheets shows that even though the investigation lasted for more than a year, the police were unable to trace Russell's full name and address.
An appeal has been made to acquit him from the case. The investigation report also does not mention when this gang started operating and how many people it took kidneys from. There is no specific information about to whom the kidneys were sold. The matter is now at the stage when allegations are being made.
When asked about the case, Sub-Inspector (SI) Khalilur Rahman of the investigation office, Bhatara police station, told Prothom Alo that he was the third investigating office in this case. He said that he has submitted a report to the court based on the documents of the case.