Even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing two cases of fraudulent kidney sale in Cuttack city last year, the Kandhamal district administration on Sunday ordered an investigation into a fresh case of kidney sale reported in the district. Kahnu Behera, the only son of a daily wage earner, sold one of his two kidneys to a man in Brahmapur for Rs3.5 lakh recently.
Kandhamal Collector Yamini Sarangi told mediapersons here that she has asked the Sub-Collector to probe the case and submit a report. The administration would decide on the next step after receiving the report. The Collector also informed that Kahnu Behera had got his kidney removed and transplanted in a private hospital in Sri lanka.
Sources said Kahnu Behera, son of Barun Behera, did odd jobs to help his father run the family, which neither has a house nor a BPl card. Kahnu, who had to discontinue his studies due to acute poverty, decided to sell his kidney after coming in contact with a broker, through whom he met one Mahendra Patnaik of Gandhi Nagar in Brahmapur, whose two kidneys were damaged.
Kahnu told the media that Patnaik promised to give him Rs3.5 lakh and gave him time to decide. He decided to give one of his kidneys to Patnaik as he thought that with the money he would get from it he would be able to construct a house for the family. Kahnu, however, could not tell where his kidney was transplanted. Meanwhile, his are in a state of shock after coming to know about their son selling off his kidney.