Kidney Racket: FIR Registered Against Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic Management, Doctors, Patient And Kidney Donor

Mubarak Ansari
Pune, 12th May 2022: After getting a nod from the Maharashtra Health Department’s competent authority, Pune city police has registered a case against the management of Ruby Hall Clinic in connection with the alleged kidney racket.

Based on the complaint from Dr Sanjog Kadam (59), deputy director of health services (Pune division), Koregaon Park police station has registered the FIR against the patient (kidney recipient) Amit Annasaheb Salunkhe and his wife Sujata, both residents of Pune; kidney donor Sarika Gangaram Sutar of Kolhapur; Annasaheb Salunke of Kolhapur, Shankar Haribhau Patil, Sunanda Haribhau Patil, Ravi Gaikwad, Abhijit Madne, Grant Medical Foundation’s (which runs Ruby Hall Clinic) Managing Trustee Dr Parvez Grant, Deputy Director Medical Services Dr Rebeca John, legal advisor Manjusha Kulkarni, consultant nephrologist Dr Abhay Sadre, urologists Dr Bhupat Bhati and Dr Himesh Gandhi and transplant coordinator Surekha Joshi.

As per the FIR, the incident took place between August 2021 to 29th March 2022 at Ruby Hall Clinic, Pune. Amit Salunkhe needed a kidney transplant. Sujata who was in need of money agreed to give her kidney in lieu of Rs 15 lakh through agents. With help from Ravi Gaikwad and Abhijit Madne they made fake documents of Sujata showing her as the wife of Amit Salunkhe to make her eligible for kidney donation.

“The documents were submitted to the Ruby Hall Clinic. However, the hospital authorities did not enquire into the documents properly and sent them to the competent authority i.e. regional authorisation committee of BJ Government Medical College and Sassoon Hospital, Pune. They (hospital officials) misled the committee thus violating section 10 of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994”, the FIR states.

The incident came to light on March 24 this year when the kidney transplant was done at the Ruby hospital but the donor Sujata did not get the promised Rs 15 lakh. She filed a complaint with Pune police on March 29. The hospital also filed a counter-complaint with the police.

The police had referred complaints to the health department and after preliminary enquiry, the department has lodged a complaint with police following which an FIR was registered yesterday.

The accused persons have been booked for offences under sections 420 (cheating), 465 (punishment for forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 120b (criminal conspiracy), 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sections 10 (regulation of hospitals conducting the removal, storage or transplantation of human organs), 19(a)(b)(c) (punishment for commercial dealings in human organs) and 20 (punishment for contravention of any other provision) of the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994.

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