A youth was allegedly forced to hand over one of his wife’s kidneys to a moneylender, after failing to repay the principal of a loan he had taken.

Police have launched an investigation and arrested the accused moneylender and one of his aides, following a complaint filed by one Rajib Das, 29, at the Ashoknagar police station on Saturday. Police suspect that the arrested duo are part of a larger pan-Bengal racket involved in the illegal kidney trade.

The incident came to light after Rajib, who works as a cleaner with a catering agency, lodged the police complaint.

According to the complaint, Rajib, a resident of the Haripur area in Ashoknagar, borrowed ₹60,000 at a high interest last year from moneylender Bikash Ghosh aka Sheetal of Bhairabtala. Despite regularly paying interest adding up to ₹1.3 lakh, he couldn't repay the principal even after multiple deadline extensions.

“I took the money on a daily interest basis at 10% per day and paid ₹600 daily for the last seven months, which totals around ₹18,000 per month. In this way, I ended up paying about ₹1.3 lakh in interest. But due to financial difficulties and my meagre income, I couldn’t return the principal amount,” Rajib said.

The moneylender then allegedly suggested that the couple sell their kidneys to settle the debt. Under mounting pressure, Rajib eventually agreed to sell one of his wife’s kidneys.

Ghosh introduced the couple to a woman who had previously sold her kidney to clear a debt. She took Rajib’s wife to a private hospital in south Calcutta, where her kidney was removed on March 14. Rajib stated that the organ was “donated” to a recipient from Uttar Pradesh who promised to pay them ₹5 lakh upon his wife’s discharge from the hospital.

Once the procedure was done, Ghosh allegedly made a fresh demand of ₹1.6 lakh in addition to the principal amount of ₹60,000, bringing the total amount to ₹2.2 lakh. When Rajib refused to comply, he was allegedly threatened with dire consequences.

That's when Rajib sought police intervention.

“It was unbelievable that Ghosh demanded more money than the principal despite the interest being cleared. I offered him ₹1 lakh to settle it finally. But he continued to threaten me, so I went to the police for help,” he said, requesting that his wife's name be withheld.

The accused duo were produced before a Barasat court on Sunday morning and remanded to 10 days in police custody.

An officer from the Barasat police district said preliminary findings indicated Ghosh had links to a kidney trafficking racket. "We are investigating how many individuals were coerced into selling their kidneys and fell victim to this network,” he said.