Soon after Delhi police’s crackdown on a real-world network of kidney racketeers in July, readers alerted mid-day to the racket seeming to have moved online, in particular the messaging app, Telegram, often dubbed a mobile Dark Web. The online marketplace now easily facilitates the illegal buying and selling of kidneys. mid-day reporters, posing as desperate kidney donors, entered the murky world, and were instantly approached by agents offering between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 6 lakh for their organs, which are then sold for more than Rs 35 lakh.

According to the Transplantation of Human Organs and Tissues Act, 1994, only immediate relatives and those close to patients are permitted to donate organs.
The mid-day investigation revealed that the racketeers first gather documents from potential donors and compare them with patients’ details. Once the last name and blood type match, they arrange for flight tickets to Kolkata and provide fully paid accommodation.