By Sanjoy RayGUWAHATI, May 30: Assam Police has filed a chargesheet in connection with the 2021 organ trafficking racket case of Morigaon, naming five persons including a mother-son duo as accused.The chargesheet was submitted by Morigaon Police before the Court of Chief Judicial Magistrate.The organ trafficking racket, the largest ever reported in Assam, involved more than a dozen victims, including women, who were lured into selling their kidneys with promises of payments ranging between Rs 4 to 5 lakh. However, the victims had received only a fraction of the promised amount.Police sources revealed that the Morigaon Police has named five persons in the chargesheet, including a mother-son duo- Nilima Boro and Mukul Boro, who were instrumental in facilitating transactions between the victims and the beneficiaries. The other accused are Ramen Medhi, Rajesh Poddar, and Plabon Borthakur.The victims, as per the investigation, were taken to West Bengal where surgeries were conducted at the Rabindranath Tagore Institute of Cardiac Sciences in Kolkata.However, investigators did not find any involvement of the hospital staff in organ trafficking cases. The hospital had earlier clarified that it had adhered to all ethical and legal protocols as mandated by the State Governments of Assam and West Bengal.In their statements to investigators, victims confessed to willfully participating in the organ trade for monetary compensation, viewing it as a solution to their financial struggles. Despite this, legal experts assert that such transactions are illegal under the law unless the donor is a close relative, which was not the case in these instances.The case was initially registered under sections 120(B) and 370 of the Indian Penal Code. Although section 3(2) (v) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989 was subsequently invoked, it was later withdrawn.Meanwhile, Court insiders revealed that the chargesheet was recently sent back to the investigating agency because of a procedural oversight which, according to Assam Police, has already been taken care of.“There was some confusion over a particular section of IPC, which has been addressed”, a source privy to the investigation said.
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