The Enforcement Directorate will soon initiate the process of attachment of overseas properties of Dr Amit Kumar, the kidney racket kingpin.
According to sources, the directorate has received the reply of its “Letter of Request” sent to Australian authorities seeking details about the properties allegedly owned by Dr Kumar there. Sources claimed that the reply has confirmed that Dr Kumar owns farmland worth several crores of rupees and a house in Australia.
The ED has already written to its counterparts in Canada and Hong Kong also to attach the properties of the accused there. According to sources, Dr Kumar owns a restaurant worth `7 crores in Canada also.
Sources further said, “The agency concerned in Hong Kong has already been requested to seal the bank account of Dr Kumar in which $54,000 is still lying”. Since the reply from Australian authorities has been received, the ED is soon expected to request Australia for the attachment of these properties, sources added.
The properties of the kidney transplant racket kingpin located in Mumbai and Gurgaon (worth `90 crores) had been attached by the ED in October, 2009. The properties which had been attached included his hotel located in Andheri West area of Mumbai.
“The ED has recently attached properties of Jeevan Kumar, brother of Dr Amit Kumar, also. Properties of Jeevan Kumar which were attached on September 9, 2010 include a flat located in Gurgaon (worth `1 crores) and a plot measuring 4,000 square metre in Greater Noida,” sources added.
It may be recalled that the 41-year-old tainted doctor was arrested at Chitwan in Nepal on February 7, 2008, by a special team of the Kathmandu police. Later, the ED also arrested Dr Jeevan Kumar from the Lodhi Road area of south Delhi. Both were arrested after Interpol notices were issued against them.
Dr Amit and others have been charged under several sections, including violation of the Human Organ Transplant Act and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. They have been accused of having forced or duped around 500 people, mostly from the underprivileged sections of society, into donating their kidneys.
“The ED will also soon get possession of foreign currency of `1 crore in cash that was recovered from the accused by the CBI. We will soon talk to the senior officials of the CBI in this regard,” said the source adding that all the bank accounts of the accused in India have also been sealed. The doctor is believed to have conducted over 500 illegal operations in a decade.