A blood donation and serum extraction racket that was busted in Surat today brought out gory tales of exploitation of unemployed youth. The modus operandi of Fairdeal Diagnostic Centre was simple: its agents would scout the railway station and bus stations, spot immigrant youth looking for employment and lure them with the promise of money against blood donated.It’s alternate pool of recruitment: beggars. The blood collected then would be centrifuged to separate the components that are sold to clients across the country.Rocky D’Souza, 27, a graduate from Pune, came to Surat after his parents disowned him for marrying out of caste. Rocky said: ‘‘I came here two-and-a-half years back and got in touch with one Uttam Marathi, who introduced me to the owner of Fairdeal.’’ Rocky has been donating blood twice a fortnight, for anything between Rs 300-350 a bottle. The accused used to provide him and other donors lodging facilities plus food and medical treatment.According to the police, the activities were going on for around three years. Three people, including a doctor and the owner of the unit, have been arrested. The police got wind of the racket when they they found the body of Gangaram Gurjar, 45, a beggar, on a roadside pavement in March.Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Harekrishna Patel said, ‘‘The autopsy showed that he was suffering from chronic tuberculosis and anaemia. Besides this, the doctor observed several needle pricks on his arms, this raised doubts.’’ Patel said, ‘‘It was easy to figure out the correlation between the low haemoglobin and needle pricks. Further investigation revealed that he was a professional donor. Then we kept a vigil on Fairdeal Diagnostic Centre, where many people donated blood.’’It was the admission of Salim to New Civil Hospital on April 29, which put the case into perspective. Salim started donating blood professionally since January and had, since then, donated blood 90 times, police said. ‘‘The revelation that he was a professional donor helped us,’’ said Patel.Investigations went on till late on Thursday after which raids were conducted and three persons — D J Patel, owner of Fairdeal Diagnostics, his son Mehul Patel and Dr A M Desai, who ran a clinic just below Fairdeal Diagnostics — were arrested. Investigations revealed that the Patels used to send blood to various laboratories across the country for diagnostic and research purposes. Gurjar, who died earlier, had donated blood 31 times though he suffered from chronic tuberculosis and was underweight, police said.
