The Madanapalle police of Annamayya district on Wednesday (November 12) booked seven persons, including a senior government doctor and two government hospital technicians, on the charge of illegally removing the kidney of a 29-year-old woman from Visakhapatnam, who died after the procedure.
According to the police, the incident took place at Global Multi-Speciality Hospital in SBI Colony here around 2.30 p.m. on November 9. A case was registered at the II-Town police station on November 12 after a relative of the woman, identified as Sadi Yamuna from Boddapalem village at Anandapuram mandal in Visakhapatnam district, reported her as missing.
According to preliminary investigation, Anjaneyulu (A-1), District Coordinator of Health Services (DCHS- Annamayya district) who also worked for Global Multi Speciality Hospital, in collusion with a doctor from Bengaluru (A-2) and dialysis technicians Balu (A-3) of Government Hospital, Madanapalle, and Meharaj (A-4) of Government Hospital, Kadiri, performed an illegal kidney removal/transplantation procedure without seeking permission from the competent authority as per the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act. The kidney was said to have been meant for a dialysis patient in Goa.
They were allegedly assisted by Pilli Padma (A-5), Sathya (A-6) and Suri (A-7), all residents of Visakhapatnam who were part of the conspiracy for money.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (SP-Madanapalle) S. Mahendra told The Hindu that the accused convinced the Yamuna, a widow, to sell her kidney so she could overcome her financial problems. The kidney was allegedly removed and sold illegally without the knowledge of her family members.
After the procedure, Yamuna reportedly slipped into a coma and was rushed to the SVRR Hospital in Tirupati on November 9, but she died in the early hours of November 10. After her death, the accused allegedly tried to transport Yamuna’s body to her native village without informing her family.
The Deputy SP said the body was brought back to the Government Hospital in Madanapalle from Tirupati on Wednesday. “We are waiting for the post-mortem examination report,” he said. Criminal cases under sections of the BNS and the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act have been registered against the accused.
Busa Suramma, Yamuna’s mother, reached Madanapalle on Wednesday and lodged a formal complaint with the police.
Andhra Pradesh have seen several cases of illegal kidney trade. In 2018, the Guntur police busted a racket where fake Aadhaar and family-relation certificates were used to pass off unrelated donors as relatives. In 2023, a private hospital in Visakhapatnam’s Pendurthi area was sealed after the arrest of six persons in a case pertaining to illegal kidney transplants. In 2024, two separate cases in Guntur exposed rackets where an autorickshaw driver was duped into selling his kidney for a fraction of the promised sum, while another group arranged illegal transplants using forged documents.
Published – November 12, 2025 06:50 pm IST
