The Special Investigation Team (SIT) tightened its noose around arrested kidney specialist Dr P.K. Sareen and his team of doctors with the likelihood of charging them with death due to negligence and disposing of a body surreptitiously, following damning statements made by a kidney recipient and his son before a court in Amritsar today.Mathura-based kidney recipient Mulk Raj Goel and his son, Vinod Kumar Goel, today recorded their statements under Section 164 of the CrPC before the court of Ranjit Kaur, Civil Judge-cum-Judicial Magistrate, in the case of the mysterious death of kindey donor, Sudesh Kumar, in July 2001.The Goels have not only said that they paid a hefty amount to Dr Sareen for Sudesh’s kidney but that his body was disposed of by the hospital in a surreptitious manner and they were told to ‘‘never return’’ to Amritsar by Dr Sareen’s associate, Dr Bhupinder Singh. The statement shed new light on how the Kakkar hospital may have hushed up the deaths of a number of poor donors.‘‘The Goels have said they paid a sum of Rs 3.5 lakh to Dr Sareen through Dr Singh and computer operator Kulwinder Singh. The Goels also stated that they knew nothing about the antecedents of the donor,’’ said IGP S.K. Sharma, who heads the SIT.Hospital records showed Sudesh as Goel’s servant. The hospital register showed Sudesh as having died but later it was rubbed off and it showed he was discharged from the hospital on July 19. Goel was discharged from hospital on July 6. When he came for a check-up on July 18, when he was told that Sudesh had died. Vinod was made to sign the documents saying he was taking responsibility for Sudesh’s body. What’s crucial is that while the Goels’ statement shows that Sudesh had died on July 18 or earlier, the hospital records show Sudesh as having been discharged from the hospital on July 19.No post-mortem or autopsy was done on the body, a clear violation of rules.
