Accused claims hospital involved

Mumbai: After busting an alleged cash-for-transplant racket in state-run hospitals, the Maharashtra Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has seized several documents from the arrested duo, which suggest that this had been going on since long. The officials are rummaging through the papers to look for more victims who may have paid money to the accused to geta clearances for kidney transplants. The accused have been sent to ACB custody till Thursday for further investigation.

The arrested accused have been identified as Tushar Savarkar, public service officer, JJ Hospital, and Sachin Salve, organ transplant coordinator, Raheja Hospital, where the kidney transplant of Jamaluddin Khan was scheduled to take place. The duo claimed that these activities were taking place with the knowledge of the hospitals’ topmost authority, officials said. The investigators said that Savarkar resided in the staff quarters located in the premises of JJ Hospital. A team of ACB officials searched his residence and seized documents pertaining to other patients, officials said.

“The seizures also include his bank passbook to ascertain the frequency of flow of money and its source. They will be questioned based on these lines and to find out who all was involved in this racket,” said an ACB officer.

The duo was apprehended after Moham-mad Ziya Siddique aka Faizan (28), Khan’s friend and a student of JJ Makdum Homeopa-thy Medical College, Kolhapur, lodged a complaint with the ACB. Siddique told the ACB that the file was pending clearance from the orga-n transplant committee at JJ Hospital when the demand for '1.5 lakh was made.

Siddique said that Salve told the money would have to be paid to Savarkar to get the file cleared. A complaint was filed on September 28 with the ACB that was used as the statement.

“When I went to hand over the bribe money when the trap was laid, the accused specifically told me that the senior-most authorities at the hospital have to be paid, too, for every file which is cleared. This is on the voice recorder that I was fitted with. The revelation clearly means that everyone is embroiled in this racket,” he said.

The investigators are questioning the duo to get the names of others who took commission from victims after their files were cleared.