About six months ago, a shabbily dressed middle-aged man entered the office of the Aluva Superintendent of Police (Ernakulam Rural) on a sultry afternoon with an envelope in his hand. The man, who seemed to be in a hurry, was at the police station to obtain a police clearance certificate for organ donation.
He wanted police approval to donate one of his kidneys to a patient who had absolutely nothing to do with him. When the curious police officer who was handling the applications threw a few informal questions at the applicant, he had no idea what was in store. “How did you meet the potential recipient?” Asked the officer.
The man casually said that he had met the patient, who was crying uncontrollably, in the corridor of a private hospital in the city. He said he was moved by the patient’s suffering and decided to remove one of his kidneys to save the patient’s life.
The officer did not believe a single word of it, but gave the requisite approval. “I knew the man was lying. Now, I am more confident about my intuition,” recalls the officer, after a series of raids in different parts of Kerala led to the police busting an alleged organ trade racket.
The raids conducted across the state on May 8 following an intelligence tip-off allegedly revealed details of a hellhole that thrived on the plight of patients, who were forced to spend their years on the sick bed waiting for organ donors who may never come.
3,462 patients till May 12
To put things in perspective, according to data compiled as of May 12, 2026, a total of 3,462 patients were waiting for organ transplants in the state. The majority of them, 2,566 patients, are in need of kidney transplant, according to government sources.
A police officer involved in the investigation says, “The information we received was about some DTP centers involved in making fake documents, including letterheads of government officials and public representatives. But as the investigation progressed, we discovered a network involved in making fake documents to circumvent laws curbing illegal organ donation.”
Police have so far registered five cases and arrested nine people; Six from Ernakulam and three from Kollam. Those arrested include suspected racket leader Muhammad Najeeb, 53, and his wife Rashida, 37. Police officials say there are around 12 alleged criminal cases against Najeeb, including a murder case registered in Mangaluru in 2017.
Letterheads of MPs, MLAs
Sunny Varghese, 56, and his wife Sini Varghese, 50, of Kumarapuram, who run a DTP centre, and Sanoj Kuzhikkadan, 32, who owns a photo studio, were also taken into custody by the police. Police say they have recovered forged documents such as letterheads of MPs and MLAs, major hospitals in Kochi city, lab reports and fake seals from two shops in Kunnathunad and Najeeb’s residence. The raid also led to the arrest of an alleged agent, Sreeja; Sudhir, his partner; and Vinod, a daily wage labourer. Debin Joseph, a native of Marayur and an alleged middleman who lured economically weaker people into the racket, was arrested on Thursday.
A Kilikollur police officer said, “We have found evidence that Sreeja was in touch with Najeeb. Vinod was groomed as a donor by him and his associate Sudhir. Vinod has been accused of selling his kidney.”
Ernakulam rural police chief KS Sudarshan, who is monitoring the investigation, says, “Najeeb has allegedly forged documents and committed related crimes in the districts. We are examining the documents and other evidence seized from him. The depth of the crime will become clear only after the documents are analyzed.”
economically weak donor
According to the police, the group identified financially weak donors, promised them huge sums of money and prepared fake documents to circumvent the stringent legal scrutiny governing organ transplantation.
Kochi City Police Commissioner S. Kaliraj Mahesh Kumar says that as the investigation progresses, hospitals may also come under the ambit of investigation. This case has once again raised troubling legal, medical and ethical questions regarding organ donation in Kerala. Police suspect that the network may have been active for about three years.
Sudarshan says, “So far we have identified around 25 cases of kidney transplants from the documents seized from the accused. As per Najib’s statement, the transplants were done in hospitals in different parts of the state. The authenticity of each document needs to be ascertained.”
Investigators liken this network to a “money chain network” that thrives on desperation. “Those who require a transplant find agents through patients who have already undergone the procedure. Similarly, donors who require funding are introduced to them through former donors they know,” the official says.
rate decided
Another official associated with the investigation says, “It is suspected that Najeeb took around ₹20 lakh from the recipient and offered ₹5 lakh-₹10 lakh to the donor. It is also believed that he bore the medical expenses of the donor and made a profit of around ₹3-₹5 lakh from each case.”
Police suspect that the network may have forged “non-suitability certificates” and “certificates of altruism” – two key safeguards required for organ donations involving unrelated donors under the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. Possible forgery of certificates to prove the relationship between the donor and the recipient is also being investigated.
The law gives priority to organ donation from close relatives to prevent commercial exploitation. If the donor is an unrelated person, he or she must present evidence that the recipient’s close family members are medically incompatible, unwilling to donate for legitimate reasons or even unavailable for donation. This is established through a certificate of non-suitability, as per the provisions of the Act.
Also, the unrelated donor must prove that the donation is completely voluntary motivated by affection or humanitarian concern rather than financial gain. Certificate of altruism becomes important there.
Dr Unmesh AK, head of forensic medicine at the Government Medical College, Kottayam and member of the Kerala State Organ and Tissue Transplant Organisation, is hopeful that the investigation will reveal the illegal practices involved in organ transplants.
He recalls hearing similar horror stories of compassion while interviewing donors as part of the district-level authorization committee considering applications for organ donation in Ernakulam and Thrissur. Dr. Unmesh fears, “The so-called agents may take advantage of the loopholes in the existing system.”
ethical dilemma
He also points to the ethical dilemma over the status of the patient and the genuineness of the donor, which sometimes makes it difficult for medical panels to take decisions. According to him, the only sustainable solution is to strengthen cadaver organ donation and reduce dependence on living donors, who are vulnerable to financial exploitation.
He also points out that the cumbersome documentation process involved in organ donation sometimes pushes even genuine donors towards middlemen. “Police verification should be made mandatory on non-related donors as medical panels may not always be able to independently verify the certificates or identities appearing before them,” suggests Dr Unmesh.
Dr Mathew Jacob, a leading transplant surgeon at a private hospital in Kochi, says doctors sometimes cannot verify all a donor’s claims because “some of them are well trained and their stories seem genuine.”
“There is an acute shortage of organs pledged for donation and patients are desperate to somehow get a transplant. Authority committees can check the authenticity of a document with the authority that issued it, including the police. I am not sure if this is happening every time,” he says. With hospitals coming under the scanner every time such allegations are made, the surgeon says, ‘It is not difficult for the police to find out if a hospital is involved in illegal transplants.’
Kerala Private Hospital Association president Hussain Koya Thangal says the forum has not discussed the latest allegations and investigation into illegal organ donation.
Vinu V. Nair. The state secretary of the Liver Foundation of Kerala, a forum of around 3,000 organ donors and recipients, believes that if the cases are investigated in depth, even more dubious deals than those that have come to light are bound to come to light.
‘Agent, the real criminal’
“The real culprits in the ecosystem are the agents. They often operate from the premises of hospitals and reach out to people in need of transplant. While detailed documentation needs to be completed for organ donation, strict scrutiny by the police is necessary to detect fake documents and perjury,” says Mr Nair. The foundation also calls for promoting dead body donation and is planning a statewide campaign named ‘Athmanalam’ with this intention.
Kochi-based lawyer Shyam Padman says that “rackets flourish in this area because the legal requirements for organ donation are strict.” “It seems that the law governing organ donation views every case with suspicion. Legislative intervention is needed to make the process of donation more transparent and hassle-free. Moreover, once cadaver donation becomes normal, there will be no racket,” he believes.
For recipients who choose the illegal route, any risk is worth taking when it comes to a life-or-death situation. And, illegal operators take advantage of helpless patients’ will to survive.
