Organ trade racket: ED searches leading private hospitals in Kerala

Several leading private hospitals across Kerala are being raided simultaneously by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) as part of its probe into alleged money-laundering linked to a suspected organ trade racket busted by the State police in Kochi last month.

Sleuths from the Kochi zonal unit of the ED fanned out to multi-specialty hospitals in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, and Kottayam districts on Thursday (June 18, 2026) morning to investigate the proceeds of the crime allegedly generated by the prime accused Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra, a native of Kasaragod, through alleged organ trafficking. The raids were initiated on suspicion that hospital staff colluded with the accused in executing the fraud.

Donor registries, transplant records, internal approvals, and financial documents at hospitals are reportedly under examination. Representatives of hospital managements and doctors may be questioned if evidence of collusion, oversight, or negligence emerges.

While the ED is focusing on suspected financial misappropriation, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police continues to probe the alleged criminal conspiracy, forgery, and possible human trafficking angles.

Even as hospitals maintain that transplantation procedures were strictly adhered to, investigators are probing whether external agents manipulated the approval process to facilitate illegal transplants. The ED is also examining whether hospitals engaged in financial transactions with any of the accused.

Kerala organ donation racket

The ED’s action follows the Kerala Police’s busting of an alleged organ trafficking racket that mediated transplants by exploiting the poor and financially distressed. Police suspect that no fewer than 20 dubious transplants were carried out in various hospitals across Kerala after luring vulnerable donors with money.

Three arrested for forging documents for organ donation in Kerala’s Ernakulam; 3 others on the run

It is alleged that while recipients paid between ₹20 lakh and ₹25 lakh for a transplant, donors received only ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh, with middlemen pocketing the rest. Members of the racket are also accused of forging documents to secure statutory approvals required for organ transplantation. Doctor seals, medical certificates, and hospital letterheads were allegedly forged, alongside the misuse of blank letterheads in the names of MPs and MLAs to fabricate claims of kinship or altruistic relationships between donors and recipients.

Najeeb, arrested by a Kerala Police team from Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh, is accused of coordinating the inter-district organ trafficking network and faces nearly a dozen criminal cases. His wife Rasheeda and several associates have also been arrested for their alleged roles in forgery and in identifying and recruiting organ donors from Ernakulam and Kollam districts.