Probe ordered into kidney sale in Odisha’s Kandhamal

Reported by Simanchal Pattnaik
Phulbani, May 31:

Even as the Enforcement Directorate (ED) is probing two cases of fraudulent kidney sale in Odisha’s Cuttack city last year, the administration in Kandhamal district today ordered an investigation into a fresh case of kidney sale reported in the district.

Kanhu Behera, the son of a daily wage earner, sold one of his two kidneys to a man in Brahmapur for Rs 3.5 lakhs recently.

“I have asked the sub collector to probe into the case and submit a report. The district administration would decide on the next step after receiving the report,” Kandhamal collector Yamini Sarangi told media persons here today.

The collector also informed that the youth Kanhu Behera had got one of his kidneys removed and transplanted in a private hospital in Sri Lanka.

Sources said Kanhu Behera, the only son of his daily wage earner father Barun Behera, did odd jobs to help his father run the family, which neither has a house nor a BPL card.

Kanhu, who had to discontinue his studies due to acute poverty, decided to sell one of his kidneys after coming in contact with a broker through whom he met Mahendra Patnaik of Gandhi Nagar area in Brahmapur city whose two kidneys were damaged.

“He (Mahendra Patnaik) promised to give me Rs 3.5 lakh and gave me the time to decide. I decided to give one of my kidneys to him as I thought that with the money I would get from it, I would be able to construct a house for my parents to ensure a smile on their face,” Kanhu told the media.

He, however, could not tell where his kidney was transplanted.

Meanwhile, the parents of Kanhu are in a state of shock after coming to know about their son selling off his kidney.