The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has expanded its investigation into the alleged multi-crore organ transplant racket in Kochi, Kerala, by summoning several senior doctors from leading private multi-speciality hospitals that were searched last month. The probe is now focusing on the role of hospitals’ internal transplant evaluation committees and suspected financial transactions linked to the alleged illegal transplant network.
According to sources, the doctors summoned for questioning are members of their hospitals’ internal transplant evaluation committees. These committees are responsible for reviewing the medical, ethical, and legal aspects of organ transplant cases before forwarding them to the government-authorised district authorisation committees for final approval.
Sources familiar with the investigation said a senior consultant from a Kochi-based private hospital has already been questioned, while more doctors from hospitals searched during the ED raids are expected to be summoned in the coming days.
Investigators are examining whether members of these internal committees overlooked suspicious transplant cases or knowingly facilitated alleged illegal organ transplants. The ED is also scrutinising the financial transactions of doctors and committee members to determine whether any illegal kickbacks or commissions were paid in exchange for expediting transplant approvals.
The money laundering investigation stems from multiple FIRs registered by the Kerala Police, which allegedly uncovered an organised inter-district human organ trafficking network. According to investigators, the alleged syndicate was led by Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra, a resident of Kasaragod.
Police allege that the network targeted financially vulnerable individuals, persuading them to donate kidneys for amounts ranging between ₹5 lakh and ₹10 lakh. Organ recipients were allegedly charged between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh, with intermediaries suspected of pocketing the difference.
Investigators further allege that the network bypassed legal safeguards governing organ transplantation by using forged doctor seals, fake medical certificates, fabricated hospital letterheads, and counterfeit police No Objection Certificates (NOCs). These documents were allegedly used to falsely establish altruistic or familial relationships between unrelated organ donors and recipients in order to obtain regulatory approvals.
Last month, the ED’s Kochi Zonal Unit carried out simultaneous searches at major private hospitals across Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Kottayam districts. During the raids, investigators seized donor registries, transplant records, approval documents, and other records considered relevant to the ongoing investigation.
The agency had previously questioned managing directors and senior administrative officials of several hospitals to verify transplant records and financial transactions. With senior doctors serving on internal transplant evaluation committees now under scrutiny, investigators are attempting to determine whether the alleged racket relied solely on forged documentation or whether it involved active participation or deliberate negligence by individuals within hospital systems.
According to the Future Crime Research Foundation (FCRF), illegal organ trafficking networks frequently exploit forged documents, financial inducements, and weaknesses in institutional oversight to bypass regulatory safeguards. The organisation recommends independent audits of transplant approval processes, digital verification of supporting documents, enhanced monitoring of financial transactions, and stronger accountability mechanisms for all stakeholders involved in organ transplantation to reduce the risk of such organised crimes.
The Enforcement Directorate has not issued any official statement regarding the ongoing investigation. The probe remains underway, and further action will depend on the documentary, financial, and digital evidence collected during the course of the investigation.
