Authorities in Nepal say they have arrested a fugitive doctor wanted over an illegal organ transplant ring in India, a month after police shut down the operation just outside New Delhi.
Amit Kumar was arrested at a jungle resort in the south of the Nepali capital, Kathmandu, a senior police official said on Thursday.
The information has yet to be confirmed by Indian police, who uncovered the multi-billion-rupee kidney transplant racket in the satellite township of Gurgaon.
The victims, mostly poor labourers, were paid about $1,200 per kidney, which were then sold to wealthy clients for 10 times as much.
Amit Kumar allegedly removed hundreds of kidneys after luring poor workers to a secret operating theatre before transplanting them to wealthy clients, many of whom were from overseas.
Indian police earlier arrested Amit Kumar's sister-in-law Pooja and her driver Umesh in relation to the organ transplant racket.
Five other suspects including another doctor have also been detained
for allegedly luring poor donors from the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and selling their kidneys.
Extradition
Shriprakash Jaiswal, India's junior home (interior) minister, said an extradition order will be sought once they confirm the arrest.
"We have not received any authentic news on the arrest of Dr Amit. But, according to the information supplied by the sources, it seems that he has been arrested," Shriprakash said.
"If he has been arrested then,... the procedure for his extradition will be started and according to the laws of Nepal and India, the police will initiate necessary action against him."
Illegal organ transplants are not new in India.
Last year, police in southern India said they found evidence of illegal trade in kidneys sold by poor fishermen and their families whose livelihoods were destroyed by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.