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New Delhi: The country's elite criminal investigation agency is awaiting an order from the central government to take charge of the probe into the internationally linked kidney transplant racket busted in Gurgaon on January 24.
The Haryana government has already sent a formal request to the centre to hand over the probe to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Gurgaon, adjacent to the national capital, is in the state of Haryana.
"The central government's notification is required before we begin the probe. After the Haryana government's formal request, the centre will issue the notification soon," a senior CBI official said yesterday.
The CBI probe has been recommended as the investigation into the scam encompasses several states and has international dimensions, with patients arriving for a kidney transplant from the US, Greece, Lebanon, Canada and Saudi Arabia.
Amit Kumar, alias Santosh Rameshwar Raut, operated the multi-million-rupee racket from his two bungalows in Gurgaon. He is suspected to have escaped to Canada.
The CBI is the nodal agency in the country to deal with international crime investigation organisations, including Interpol.
Haryana's request for red corner notices against the alleged kingpins of the scandal, Kumar and his brother Jeewan Raut, was quickly processed by the CBI and international warrants have been secured.
Amit Kumar has allegedly masterminded around 600 "forced" kidney transplants over the past nine years.
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