KANPUR The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched a money laundering probe into a multi-state illegal organ trafficking network exposed in Kanpur, initiating a financial crackdown on an enterprise that turned human misery into a corporate-style revenue stream.
The ED lodged a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) after an initial inquiry that stretched for 10 days, said an official.
A four-member team is tracking the syndicate’s complex financial layout, he added. The agency is currently scanning more than 40 bank accounts and corresponding tax records tied to the suspects. The objective is clear: map the proceeds from these underground surgeries, freeze illicitly generated assets and systematically dismantle the network’s economic base.
The investigation into the racket has revealed that the gang aggressively targeted financially vulnerable young individuals, purchasing kidneys from impoverished donors for ₹3.5 lakh to ₹5 lakh. These same organs were then sold to wealthy domestic and foreign recipients at rates between ₹50 lakh and ₹90 lakh per transplant. The massive profits were routinely funneled into real estate investments and luxury lifestyles.
The racket was blown open following a raid at Ahuja Hospital in Keshavpuram, Kanpur, but the investigation has since expanded dramatically. It now spans nine hospitals across Delhi-NCR, Lucknow, Meerut and Dehradun.
Local police have arrested 13 individuals so far, including the hospital’s owners, Dr Surjeet Singh Ahuja and Dr Preeti Ahuja, alongside operating theatre technicians and key middlemen. Among the central figures in custody is the suspected operational mastermind, 24-year-old Rohit Tiwari. Despite being only a high school graduate, Tiwari actively posed as a licensed doctor to organise more than 30 illegal surgeries. The entire network began to unravel after a payment dispute prompted a targeted MBA student from Bihar to blow the whistle.
The ED is now working in close alignment with the police to audit hospital financial registries and medical communication networks. While federal agents isolate the money trail to seize properties, local police teams are currently tracking six absconding doctors and technicians across the NCR.
DCP (west) Qasim Abidi, who spearheaded the investigation into this racket, said the ED had written a letter following which the agency was provided with FIR and other relevant documents.
