An operation theatre (OT) technician, accused of conducting more than 30 illegal kidney transplants, surrendered before a magistrate’s court on Thursday. Mudassar Ali Siddiqui, “Dr Ali”, evaded police and reached the ACJM-6 court wearing a cap and face mask to turn himself in.
Siddiqui is the 11th person arrested in connection with the massive kidney trafficking racket that was exposed in March. The court remanded him to 14 days of judicial custody.
Police had been searching for Siddiqui across Noida, Ghaziabad and Uttarakhand, and had announced a reward of ₹25,000 for information leading to his arrest. While his name was not in the original First Information Report (FIR), it surfaced during the subsequent investigation. Investigating officer Manoj Kumar confirmed to the court on April 16 that Siddiqui was a wanted accused, leading to the custody order.
Ali’s counsel, Punit Dwivedi, stated that his client surrendered voluntarily. “We filed an application before the court on which the police replied that he was wanted in the case. After that reply, Mudassar Ali appeared before the court and surrendered. He has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days,” Dwivedi said.
A resident of Dwarka in Delhi, Siddiqui is alleged to have played a central role in the procedures, performing surgical incisions, removing kidneys from donors and transplanting them into recipients. Police said he never traveled to Kanpur alone, always arriving with one doctor and two assistants. After each operation, the team allegedly split up and headed toward Lucknow and Ghaziabad. Siddiqui had received formal training as an OT technician in Delhi and was part of a team led by Dr Rohit, which included other trained OT specialists.
The racket was exposed on March 29 following a raid at Ahuja Hospital in Rawatpur’s Keshavpuram. The case was triggered by the complaint of 23-year-old Bihar student Ayush Kumar, who alleged he sold his kidney for ₹6 lakh, which was then transplanted into Parul Tomar of Muzaffarnagar for approximately ₹80 lakh. Ayush’s complaint led to simultaneous raids on Medlife Hospital, Ahuja Hospital, and Priya Hospital.
Investigators revealed that donor candidates were first recruited through cyber fraud, lured into Telegram groups and given small tasks with monetary rewards—a pattern police likened to the Blue Whale online game. Handlers at this stage were identified as Dr Afzal and “Dr Ali” (Mudassar Ali Siddiqui).
Among those already jailed are Ahuja Hospital’s Dr Preeti Ahuja and her husband Dr Surjit Ahuja, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Dr Ram Prakash, Dr Narendra Singh and agent Shivam Aggarwal. OT manager Rajesh Kumar and OT operator Kuldeep Singh Raghav were arrested in Ghaziabad. Dr Rohit, who also carried a ₹25,000 reward, was arrested three days before Siddiqui’s surrender.
Police said efforts are ongoing to arrest Dr Afzal, Dr Vaibhav Mudgal, and Dr Amit in connection with the case.