Dibrugarh, July 15: Dibrugarh police has started investigation against the illegal kidney racket business after a case was registered at Lahowal police outpost on Thursday.

Dibrugarh Superintendent of police Shwetank Mishra said, “We have registered a case at Lahowal police station and started the investigation. Right now, we cannot say much about the case because it is at preliminary stage.”

A case no. 213/2021 u/s 370 was registered at Lahowal police outpost.

Kidney racketeers has been active in the tea garden areas of upper Assam and targeting the poor garden workers by taking advantage of their poor economic condition.

Recently, a case came to light where a poor tea garden worker, Ramu Karmakar (45) of Singlijan tea estate in Dibrugarh, sold one of his kidneys to an agent for an amount of Rs. 3.5 lakh in April.

“The poor tea garden workers are targeted by the kidney racketeers or agents who are closely monitoring the tea garden workers and collect the details of the workers and went to them by offering them money and convinced them to sell the kidney. It is an organised crime and many high profile names have been associated with the kidney racket,” said a source.

After the matter came to light, the Assam Chah Mazdoor Sangha (ACMS), which is the largest body of tea garden workers, has constituted a high-level committee to investigate the matter. The team will visit the tea gardens and try to unearth the illegal racket.

ACMS vice president Nabin Keot said, “We suspect the illegal kidney rackets may be thriving in the tea gardens. Large scale illiteracy and poverty exists in the tea gardens which are exploited by unscrupulous elements. We have initiated a high-level enquiry into the incident.”

“The matter should be investigated properly because poor garden workers are exploited and the kidney racketeers are taking the advantage of their poor economic condition,” said Ajoy Das, secretary, ATTSA Lahowal branch.