In an indication of how deep rooted the illegal trade in kidneys is, the Punjagutta police on Wednesday arrested a Gandhi Hospital nephrologist for his alleged involvement in at least one illegal kidney transplantation surgery. The arrested Dr Ramesh Chada was subsequently produced before the magistrate at the Nampally court for judicial remand.
Two other persons, Ganesh and Pratap, said to be assistants of Dr Ramesh Chada, were also arrested on charges of helping the doctor. Confirming the trio’s arrest, DCP (West Zone) Stephen Ravindra said, “The two assistants were picked up for brokering the deal for Dr Ramesh Chada.”
He said the Punjagutta police had been closely monitoring the trio's movements after one S. Yadgiri, of Dubbaka in Medak district, approached the police, alleging that he was approached to sell his kidney. Mr Yadgiri alleged that he was asked to contact Dr Chada, who also runs a super-specialty hospital at Kharkhana. The Punjagutta police arrested two touts named N. Venkata Srinivasa Rao and E. Rajender Prasad on May 6. Following these arrests, the doctor’s assistants went into hiding, only to be nabbed on Wednesday.