Calcutta, Feb. 7: Police have said there could be more than six persons involved in the kidney racket that it busted yesterday.

The three persons arrested yesterday are “low-level operatives in the racket”, sleuths in the detective department said. “They worked as agents. They contacted people who wanted to sell their kidneys and got some money as commission. We are looking for those who are running the racket from behind,” said Jawed Shamim, the deputy commissioner of police, headquarters.

The police claimed that “a marathon interrogation” of the three — Mithun Chatterjee, Hriday Kumar Dubey and Chandana Mukherjee — had revealed the “involvement of more than six players”. A fourth person, Pradip Mandal, gave the police the slip yesterday.

The racket was busted when Hriday was caught by security guards at Apollo Gleneagles Hospital on the EM Bypass where he and Pradip had brought Suman Rudra, a resident of Shyamnagar, for a blood test.

The police said Mithun had introduced Suman, an unemployed youth residing at his neighbouring locality, to Dubey and Mandal.

According to detective department officers, Mithun’s job was to scout for people in need of money. “Once the deal was settled, he would hand them over to Hriday and Pradip,” said an officer.

A Delhi-based agent, Manik Chowdhury, “would fly here to supervise the transplant”, the police said.

Kidnap arrest

Howrah police have arrested Dharma Rout, a car driver, for his alleged involvement in the Yash Lakhotia murder case.

Yash, 7, was abducted from school on January 29. His body was found near his home two days later. Dharma is the second person to be arrested in the case.