Patna, July 11: Medical touts have diversified their field of operations much beyond just luring the needy into selling their blood for fast buck — by taking to dealing in illegal human organ transplantation.

The state capital also has got an almost full-fledged kidney sale and purchase racket that operates under a veil of secrecy with the connections extending as far as Bangalore.

Senior police officers of the state capital told The Telegraph though they have been only successful in locating just “the tip of the iceberg” till now, the fact remains that the illegal racket of kidney donation is actually thriving.

“During the raids on illegal blood banks in March this year, the police stumbled upon the presence of this racket. Though the men in uniform have not been able to make a breakthrough in delving deep into the functioning of the racket, the kidney racket operates in a clandestine manner,” Patna City superintendent of police Shivdeep Lande said.

In fact, the police had started investigating the same and planted a mole to contact the touts in the business. Sources said during the investigations, they got in touch with a tout, who was into the illegal blood donation racket too.

“At first, the tout had refuted the existence of any kind of business related to body parts in the state capital. The mole posed as a person in dire need of money and agreed to sell one of his kidneys. A few days later, the tout agreed to help him sell the kidney and called him near Patna Medical College and Hospital. There, he was introduced to another person, who appeared to be a doctor. The man told the mole that for surgery he needed to go to Bangalore, as it was not possible in Patna. The mole did not agree,” a police officer told The Telegraph. The officer added that after sometime, another police spy was directed to follow up on the same.

“The man got in touch with the tout again and the same procedure followed. He was offered Rs 5 lakh to sell a kidney and given an AC 2-tier train ticket but no one accompanied him. The police had planted two men from Jamui on the same train to keep a watch on the spy. The man reached Bangalore station where a car came to pick him up. However, the two policemen somehow lost him in the crowded station,” the officer said.

Two days later, the spy called up a senior police officer in Patna from a public booth to say that he had been fed well but was worried, as he could not trace the two policemen.

“It was risky and the spy was asked to sneak to the railway station again. Thereafter, the police got in touch with a police officer there and arrangement for his return was made. The police could not lodge a case at that time. With no one from the racket accompanying the spy to Bangalore, it is clear that it is a completely new and different nexus,” the officer said. Meanwhile, the then City SP said there were possibilities that the touts were also luring the needy into selling their kidneys.

“The entire racket seems to operate in different layers. Though we have no evidence about kidney removal surgeries taking place in Patna, the suspicion is always there. We are trying to bust the racket. Investigations are still on and the police hope to make a breakthrough soon. We believe such surgeries happen in Patna too,” Lande said.

Recently, the police have asked the civil surgeon in Patna to provide them with a list of registered private nursing homes in the state capital. “With the list of registered nursing homes, the police can easily trace the illegal ones,” the city SP said.