Kidney racket at Ruby Hall Clinic: Govt replaces two panel members
The state government on Wednesday replaced two members of the inquiry committee constituted to investigate the alleged kidney racket scam at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune after they refused to be a part of panel
Pune: The state government on Wednesday replaced two members of the inquiry committee constituted to investigate the alleged kidney racket scam at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune after Dr Vatsala Trivedi and Dr Shrirang Bachhu refused to be a part of panel, the notification said.
The notification, signed by Sanjay Mahadeshwar, secretary, Maharashtra state, and issued on Wednesday, stated that the government is appointing Dr Surendra Mathur, zonal transplant coordination centre, Mumbai and Dr Sujata Patwardhan, director incharge, regional organ and tissue transplant organisation and state organ and tissue transplant organisation (ROTTO-SOTTO) Mumbai as the replacements.
On July 18 this year, the state had constituted a committee headed by a retired High Court judge to conduct an inquiry to probe the alleged kidney racket scam at Ruby Hall Clinic. The committee, with members from government and non-government bodies, was supposed to give its report in three months. The committee was constituted after BJP MLA Madhuri Misal raised the issue during the assembly session stating that the main accused in the racket is at large and the racket has spread throughout the state.
The illegal kidney transplant case was exposed in March 2022 after Sarika Gangaram Sutar, a widow from Kolhapur, filed a complaint with the Koregaon Park police station alleging that she was promised ₹15 lakh in exchange for a kidney, but the money never came through.
She posed as the recipient’s wife for approval from government officials and the transplant was performed.
A swap kidney transplantation was performed on March 24, and one of the donors, Sujata Amit Salunkhe (wife of recipient Amit Salunkhe), being a swap donor, claimed that she is not the wife of Amit Salunkhe. She presented a copy of an Aadhaar card to the cops bearing the name Sarika Gangaram Sutar. The probe is on since the past one-and-a-half years, but no concrete action has been taken in the case yet.
