A senior IPS officer and social activists made a sensational disclosure about a gang which has been using `Facebook’ to run a kidney as well as other vital organs racket through social networking site.
The 1992-batch officer of IPS cadre from Uttar Pradesh, Amitabh Thakur , who made several Public Interest litigations (PIl) before being stopped from doing so by the High Court as he was a senior government officer, had claimed to have a filed a complaint with the local police in lucknow, alleging that a gang is contacting Facebook users to purchase kidney and other vital organs. According to Thakur, the gang members are offering for Rs 3.5-4 lakh for a kidney.
In his complaint, Thakur further elaborated about the modus operandi and claimed that one of his friends from Noida had been contacted by a person on Facebook and wasoffered Rs 3.5 lakh for his renal organ. The IPS officer alleged the man making the offer also gave details of the bank account and other necessary formalities which would be needed to complete the transaction. “I also talked to that person on phone. He told me that I would get around Rs 3 lakh for my kidney. For this I will have to come to Pune and from there to Iran, the entire arrangement being made at his end,” 45-year-old Thakur said in his complaint.
Demanding registration of an FIR, Thakur alleged that the person asked his age and told him that the money would be given in advance. “He also told me that since my age is slightly on upper hand (45), hence it will take around 10 days to get a receiver but if I had a young person in contact, his kidney can be sold immediately,” Thakur alleged. The police officer said he had filed a complaint at Gomti Nagar police station seeking registration of an FIR as prima facie it seems to be an offence under sections of the Indian Penal Code and The Transplantation of Human Organs Act, 1994.“No FIR has, however, been registered so far,” Thakur alleged.