Hyderabad: Professor Vasudev Chaturvedi, who claimed to be former vice president, sales and international business of Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences and consultant at Kims at present, and two Ugandan nationals, who were all arrested for trafficking in human organs, were released on bail on Thursday in Uganda.
The Ugandan nationals are Kundu Wangusi, a soldier attached to the Entebbe Air force base and Christopher Ogwal, a student of Makerere University.
Chief magistrate Olive Kazaarwe ordered the accused to deposit two million shillings each and bonds of 20 million shillings as surety. They also had to deposit their passports and letters of residence.
A Ugandan businessman and a real estate developer gave surety for Prof. Chaturvedi. The Ugandan police have charged Prof. Chaturvedi, a resident of Kampala district, with aggravated trafficking under section 4(i) of the Prevention of Trafficking in Person Act 2009.
The chargesheet filed in the case accuses the three men and others still at large of confining Ssekyewa Mathias Derrick and organising and facilitating the removal of his kidney.
The events are said to have occurred between March and June 2012. Wangusi first approached Ogwal and told him that he needed a donor for a sick child and asked him to find the donor.
Ogwal then approached Ssekyewa, his friend, promising him 200 million shillings and a big mansion in a place of his choice, life insurance and a job in the US.
Kims director says donor gave consent
The Kims director denied all the allegations and said that the hospital had not done anything wrong. Ssekyewa Mathias, the kidney donor, appeared before the Indian High Commission in Uganda and also before the State Organ Transplantation Committee in Hyderabad Directorate of Medical Education office. He gave his ‘consent’ for the transplantation.
“We have done more that 1,000 transplantations and we have never indulged in such activities. On April 2, 2012, the director-general of health services of Uganda had issued a letter referring the patient, Wabwoba Isaac, and donor Ssekyewa Mathias.  Both of them gave their consent,” he said.
Vasudev: It is a  blackmail plot
Vasudev Chaturvedi  who was released from jail on Thursday on bail said that the Ugandan kidney donor had filed a  false complaint against him in order to blackmail him for  money.   He  said that he is former vice-president of Kims and is now only a consultant   for the hospital.
In a telephonic conversation with this correspondent from Uganda after his release, he said, “It was a plot to  blackmail me. I  haven’t spoken  to the donor at all. An Ugandan doctor, one of my friends,  referred the case to me. I only offered procedural comfort. I facilitated government permissions and clearances at  the Indian High Commission.
I paid the requisite fees and sent them to Kims. I didn’t got to Kims to see the patients. The visa formalities were completed  by me. They boarded the flight themselves. They are trying to blackmail me. I am now going to  fight here legally against punishing innocent people. Whenever a complaint is lodged they put people in jail,” he said.
“When the surgery was performed, the donor didn’t complain  that his kidney was taken,” he said. The case has been  posted for hearing and  arguments to September,  2014. 
He said, “I was once vice-president of Kims, not anymore. I am   only a consultant with there now. I am paid commission or percentage on each operation.”