India will have to wait to get Dr Kidney back

New Delhi/Kathmandu: Luck ran out for Dr Amit Kumar, the kingpin of the multi-crore kidney trade racket, on Thursday when Nepal police arrested him from a resort near Kathmandu.

A group of Nepalese policeman hunting for the mastermind of India's massive kidney scam had no trouble in nabbing him - he was sitting in his room, the door unlocked.

He was immediately taken into custody and the Indian authorities were informed of the big catch.

So what are India's options now?

So far, there is no legal provision for India to ask Nepal to hand over the accused before the authorities there finish their investigations. So it is highly unlikely that Amit Kumar will be deported to India immediately.

India will, in all probability, seek access to question him. The Central Bureau of Investigation says it will immediately approach Nepali authorities for the deportation process and says Indian police teams have already left for Nepal.

The Indian Government has so far received no formal confirmation from Nepal but the police on both sides are constantly in touch. Nepal police say a Delhi Police officer is already in Kathmandu to provide Amit Kumar’s passport details.

“We are in the process of identification. Indian Embassy will be informed in next few hours. It was an integrated efforts of the Crime Branch and district police,” said Commissioner Kathmandu Valley, Hem Gurum.

Indian authorities too have confirmed this. Said UP DGP Vikram Singh, ““We will follow legal rules before sending any team to Nepal. Some vital information has been exchanged through official channels,”

In Oct 1953, India and Nepal signed an Extradition Treaty covering:

Criminals convicted of murder/conspiracy/rape/dacoity etc

Court process in nepal will hve to be gone through

Identity of the accused will have to be formally established

Court will ascertain if he has committed any crime in Nepal

If proved otherwise he can be extradited

An Easy Catch

Amit Kumar was an easy catch for Nepal police. News agencies report the policemen in uniform and in plainclothes, who breezed into the two-storey Hotel Wildlife Camp Safari Resort in Sauraha, bordering the Royal Chitwan National Park, were startled to realise that their quarry was just a floor up.

The hotel receptionist promptly identified Amit Kumar alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut from the photograph shown by the police and pointed them out to room number six on the first floor.

Inside the room, "doctor" Amit Kumar, who was on the run since Jan 24 after police raided his properties in Gurgaon near New Delhi and Moradabad and accused him of 600 illegal kidney transplants, was relaxing and not even bothered to lock the door.

"He told the policemen in Hindi: 'Take all the money and leave me'," a hotel employee was quoted as saying by news agency IANS.

But, the police had none of it.

He was taken into custody, but his Nepali associate Manish Singh escaped. Hotel employees could not confirm how he left the premises.

"He (Amit Kumar) also said, why have you got a police car, you should have got a hospital van," the staff member said, indicating the Indian scamster was trying to feign illness.

Nepal's Minister of State for Home Ram Kumar Chaudhary later told a private Indian television news channel that Amit Kumar was caught with a large amount of foreign currency.

According to the employee, the two men came to the hotel with a red-tiled roof at 7 am on Thursday. "They said that they had come from a nearby hotel and were not satisfied with its facilities," he said.

The cause of their dissatisfaction with their previous accommodation was the lack of a TV set. "He told us that they changed the hotel because he wanted to see TV. We show all the Indian TV channels in our rooms," he said.

The check-in register was signed in the name of Manish Singh, who gave his address in Kathmandu district. They had two pieces of luggage with them, a red and a black suitcase.

They were allotted room number six, which is on the upper floor of the two-storey hotel that has 24 rooms. After they retired to their rooms, they ordered for two cups of black coffee. "They did not have lunch at our hotel, but went out," he said.

The two men returned to the hotel at about four in the afternoon. "The police came in the hotel at about five pm," he said.

(With agency inputs)

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