#Kidney racket: Hospital owners apply for anticipatory bail

Apprehended that they may be arrested anytime soon, the owners of the National Kidney Hospital – Dr Rajesh Aggarwal and his wife Deepa Aggarwal – on Thursday filed for an anticipatory bail in a local court.

The hearing on their applications will come up on Friday morning.

In their applications, the couple pleaded innocence, maintaining that they have nothing to do with those arrested in the racket which was busted the city police on July 31 with the arrest of Junaid Ahmed Khan and Kuldeep Kumar of Faridabad in Haryana, Sabur Ahmed Khan and Vardan Chander Rao of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh.

On August 5, the police had interrogated the couple for several hours and had also seized records from the hospital.

The development came in the wake of the arrested accused – hospital employee Sadhna, kingpin Junaid Ahmed Khan and lab helper Harwinder  – claimed before the media that Dr Rajesh Aggarwal had information about activities being run in the hospital that are now under scanner.

On Thursday morning, the special investigation team (SIT) comprising deputy commissioner of police (DCP) Sandeep Kumar Sharma, ADCP Alka Meena and others videographed the statements of Sadhna, Khan and Harwinder at the police station-7.

On Wednesday, Sadhna’s counsel claimed in the court that his client had named Dr Rajesh Aggarwal in her confessional statement, but the police had not recorded the same.

Khan was sent to judicial custody by a local court on Wednesday evening. He was shifted to the Kapurthala jail on Thursday afternoon as the police took time in completing formalities.
The police have also taken Khan’s blood samples and kept it for DNA matching.

Sadhna and Harwinder will be produced in the court on Friday afternoon. The court had sent Sadhna and Harwinder to two-day police custody on Wednesday.