Kochi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has stepped up its investigation into the alleged multi-crore organ donation racket based in Kochi by summoning managing directors and senior administrative officials of several leading private hospitals for questioning. Sources said that the agency has questioned the top management officials of hospitals over the last few days. The MD of a private hospital in Kochi too appeared for questioning today. 

The latest move comes nearly a month after the ED’s Kochi Zonal Unit carried out simultaneous searches at major multi-specialty hospitals in Ernakulam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kottayam districts.

According to sources, the agency is now verifying transplant records, donor registries and financial documents seized during the raids with the heads of the hospitals. The officials are trying to find out whether hospital managements or transplant coordinators had any role in the activities of Mohammed Najeeb Kallatra, the alleged kingpin in the organ donation fraud, or whether the racket exploited loopholes in the existing system without their knowledge.

Sources within one of hospitals searched by the ED told Onmanorama that the agency has been calling officials from different hospitals on separate days to record their statements.

“The investigation is heavily focused on document verification. The agency is meticulously tracking the trail of patients who came through Najeeb's network. They are specifically investigating whether internal procedures were intentionally bypassed or manipulated to facilitate these commercial transplants,” a hospital official said.

Under the organ transplant rules, cases involving donors who are not related to recipients must be approved by a government-authorised district authorisation committee, usually functioning under a government medical college. Hospitals can proceed with the transplant only after receiving the committee's approval and related documents.

However, investigators have reportedly found that the racket relied on forged documents to obtain these approvals.

“The racket heavily forged medical certificates, letterheads and, most critically, Police NOCs (No Objection Certificates) to establish a false altruistic connection between the donor and recipient,” sources said.

Such forged documents are difficult for hospitals to detect. “For an internal hospital administration, detecting these sophisticated fakes is incredibly difficult. Once the committee approves it and records the mandatory video statements, the hospital is legally bound to proceed with the transplant,” an official of one of the hospitals facing scrutiny said.

Apart from examining forged documents, the ED is also investigating the money trail to establish possible money laundering. According to investigators, the racket allegedly recruited financially vulnerable people to donate kidneys for ₹5 lakh to ₹10 lakh, while recipients were reportedly charged ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh.

The agency is also scrutinising hospital accounts and transaction records to verify whether any illegal payments or commissions entered the banking system of the hospitals.

While hospital authorities maintain that they conducted transplants only after receiving approval from the authorised government committees, the ED is continuing to examine whether there was any lapse in internal due diligence or deliberate negligence by hospital managements.

The agency has not officially commented on the investigation. However, senior executives from several hospitals have been appearing before the ED’s zonal office in Kadavanthra for questioning, and more hospital officials are expected to be summoned in the coming days as the investigation widens.