Kidney King’s handover to India leaves many questions unanswered
By Anand Gurung
His arrest may have been far from being dramatic [although he reportedly offered the group of policemen who came calling for him, Rs 10 million rupees as bribe if they let him flee], however the way Dr Amit Kumar, the main accused in the major Indian kidney racket, was handed over to India did have some ingredients of a political drama.
A day after announcing that Dr Kumar would be produced in court for remand to carry out investigations into possession of illegal foreign currency, and police officials also hinted that he might also be charged under the Human Organs Transplant Act - Nepal Police hastily handed him over to Indian authorities at the runway of International Airport Saturday evening just before the plane in which he was to be flown to India – Indian Airlines IC 814 – took off.
It was ironic that the same plane which after being hijacked from the same runway forced the Indian government to release high-profile terrorists imprisoned in its jails in 1999 was to take a man, who is dubbed the “kingpin” and “lord” of the worldwide organ trade to India where he is accused of having forced or duped around 500 people into donating their kidneys.
However, what was more ironic was the way the Nepal government handled the matter, and it can be said that they handled it pretty badly. Minister of State for Home Affairs Ram Kumar Chaudhary told one daily that the government directed Nepal Police to hand Dr Kumar over to Indian officials after it received a formal request for his deportation in the context of Interpol red corner notice against him. But the day the doctor was handed over to Indian officials was Saturday, a holiday, and the day before that when he was made public also happened to be holiday for Lhosar. So when did this “formal request” come from India? Indian embassy spokesperson Gopal Bagley told Naya Patrika daily that it had sent a formal request for the doctor’s deportation on Friday. But if it had at all come then it must have come through the proper channel – Ministry of Foreign Affairs. But the ministry’s spokesperson Hira Bahadur Thapa said he had no knowledge of the Indian government’s “formal request”.
Hours before deporting Dr Kumar to India on Saturday, Minister for Peace and Reconstruction Ram Chandra Poudel speaking at Reporters Club confirmed that the government received “formal letter” from India only Saturday afternoon. So did the foreign ministry receive the formal request on the day it remains closed?
These questions have also raised questions on the very formality of the formal request of the Indian government for Dr Kumar’s deportation.
Poudel had told reporters that Dr Kumar would be handed over to India because he is an Indian national and he committed crime in India, making it clear that no case was being initiated against him in Nepal.
But wait, didn’t the doctor also commit a crime here in Nepal, as the police would confirm, for illegal possession of foreign currency and some fake documents?
When asked what would happen to the charges the Nepal Police was preparing to file against the doctor, state minister Chaudhary said, “Dr Kumar committed more serious crimes in Indian than in Nepal. So being a member country of the Interpol we have to hand over the accused to the country on whose request the red corner notice was issued.”.
Kantipur daily quoted a home ministry source as saying that the decision to deport Dr Kumar was made by the emergency meeting held at the home ministry on Friday presided over by home minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula. The daily said the meeting was called to “fulfill the required process” for deportation as per the direction of Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala.
Since Nepal doesn’t have an operational extradition treaty with India, the authority to decide on the case rested solely with the Council of Ministers or the prime minister. And since the cabinet meeting has not been held since Dr Kumar was arrested from a jungle lodge at the edges of the famous Sauraha National Park in Chitwan, it is clear that he must have been handed over to India under the direct orders of PM Koirala himself.
However, legal professionals are of the opinion that Dr Kumar should have been tried in accordance to Nepali law first since he was arrested by the police here with more than permissible amount of foreign currency and some fake documents.
Former president of Nepal Bar Association Sambhu Thapa told Kantipur daily that Dr Kumar was sent to India in a very unusual circumstances.
“This showed the government’s tendency of doing whatever it likes to do,” he said, “no way should he have been extradited to India without completing the investigations first.”
Similarly, the government was also accused of clearly disregarding legal formalities and not following necessary process before deporting him to India.
“We were not consulted at all,” Kathmandu district prosecutor Surendra Thapa told the same daily.
When the police team had raided the Wildlife Lodge in Chitwan to arrest him Dr Kumar had acted innocent and said that he had come to Chitwan to explore the possibility of opening a kidney transplant centre.
The arrest of Dr Kumar came only a year after Nepal Police busted a kidney racket in which the victims were taken to India with promises of lucrative jobs.
A number of Nepali accomplices of the kidney racket have been identified, but it is yet not clear if Dr Kumar conducted transplants in Nepal. And probably even if he is found to have conducted such transplants in Nepal Dr Kumar, who is reported by Indian television channels of also operating a hospital in Nepal, has already been deported to India. Therefore, he would not be tried in Nepal for the crime he may have committed here. nepalnews.com Feb 10 08
(Registration required)
