How Farmer’s Viral Video Exposed an International Kidney Racket

New Delhi, January 3, 2026: The dark underbelly of the medical world was exposed this week following a viral video by a marginal farmer from Chandrapur, Maharashtra. On January 1, 2026, a heart-wrenching clip surfaced featuring Roshan Kude, who revealed that he had been forced to sell his kidney to repay a local moneylender. What began as a small loan of ₹1 lakh had reportedly ballooned into a staggering ₹74 lakh debt due to predatory interest rates. His public confession acted as the catalyst for a massive police operation, ultimately unearthing a cross-border kidney trafficking network stretching from India to Cambodia.

Predatory Loans and the Cambodian Trail

The investigation, led by a Maharashtra Government-appointed Special Investigation Team (SIT), uncovered a systematic exploitation of debt-ridden farmers. It was revealed that Kude was lured through a social media page titled “Kidney Donor Community” and was eventually taken to Cambodia for the illegal harvesting of his organ. For his kidney, Kude reportedly received only ₹8 lakh, while the syndicate was observed charging wealthy recipients between ₹50 lakh and ₹80 lakh. This “loan-to-harvest” pipeline has been described by authorities as a “recurring nightmare” for India’s rural poor.

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Arrests in the Medical Fraternity

The crackdown has led to significant breakthroughs, including the naming and arrest of specialized medical professionals. Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh, a gastroenterologist from Delhi, was detained for his alleged role as a key operative and surgical hand in the syndicate. Furthermore, Dr. Rajratnam Govindaswamy, the Managing Director of STAR KIMS Hospital in Trichy, Tamil Nadu, has been identified as a prime suspect around whom the domestic operations centered. While Singh was granted interim bail due to logistical issues, he has been ordered to appear before the court today, January 2, 2026, while the Trichy-based doctor remains on the run.

The Role of “Victim-Turned-Agent” Intermediaries

A chilling aspect of the racket was the discovery that many agents were once victims themselves. The SIT arrested a “fake doctor” from Solapur, identified as Krishna alias Ramakrishna Sunchu, who had previously sold his own kidney before becoming a recruiter for the gang. Alongside him, another donor-turned-agent, Himanshu Bharadwaj, was taken into custody. These intermediaries were heard confessing to coordinating the travel of over a dozen impoverished individuals to “safe houses” and secondary medical facilities across Delhi, Noida, and Trichy for illegal transplants.

A Call for Robust Organ Transparency

As 2026 begins, the “Chandrapur Kidney Scandal” has reignited a national debate on the Transplantation of Human Organs Act (THOTA). It was remarked by senior police officials that the sheer profitability of the trade ensures that as one racket is dismantled, another quietly takes root. The exploitation of “loan-trapped” villagers remains the biggest vulnerability in India’s healthcare system. For now, the viral video of a lone farmer has managed to do what years of regulation could not: it has torn the veil off a multi-crore “organ phantom” that preys on the desperate to keep the wealthy alive.