Miscellaneous news and discussion - 2

[Sunder]

Quite spine-chilling.... <!--emo&:furious--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/furious.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='furious.gif' /><!--endemo-->

http://in.news.yahoo.com/060729/211/669qy.html

Dr butcher chops off limbs for beggar mafia

By IBNlive.com
Saturday July 29, 08:03 PM

New Delhi: A car screeches to a halt, the don steps out, collects money from child beggars, slaps them and zooms away—a scene from numerous Bollywood films on goons chopping off limbs and forcing people to beg. But story is true.

A special investigation by CNN-IBN and DIG has found that a beggar mafia exists and it tortures and maims people to make them beg. And there are even doctors who help the mafia by amputating the limbs of healthy people.

At Connaught Place in Delhi, the DIG group asks beggar Ramesh: Yeh pair kaise, kisne katva diya? (Who chopped off your leg?)

“Bheek mangne wale ne,” says Ramesh (The person who forces us to beg). Ramesh’s leg was chopped off five years ago and he was forced to beg in a subway.

What happened to Ramesh is horrific, and the story becomes even more shocking with the discovery that there are doctors who use their knives to cripple and maim perfectly healthy human being.

Dr Ajay Agarwal, a senior orthopaedic surgeon at district hospitals in the Ghaziabad and Noida cities of Uttar Pradesh, is one such doctor. For a price he will cut off a person’s arm or leg. Posing as artificial limbs suppliers, DIG investigators asked Dr Agarwal if he would amputate healthy limbs.

DIG: “Yahan private mein kitna kharcha hoga, sir aapka?” (How much would you charge for an amputation)

Dr Agarwal: “With medicine, ten thousand (rupees)”

DIG: “With medicine, ten thousand. Chahe haath kate ya pair kate.” (With medicine, ten thousand rupees-for cutting a leg or an arm)

Dr Agarwal: “Chahe yahan kate ya yahan kate.” (For cutting a leg or an arm)

DIG investigators asked Dr Agarwal if he would amputate the limbs of people who were to be made beggars. He said yes.

DIG: Kuch patient to frankly speaking aise bhi hain hamare paas, voh sir for the sake of begging, bheek mange ke iye haath katwa liye pair katwa liya, is type ke hain. (To be frank, some people’s limbs have to be amputated so that we can use them for begging)

DIG: “Bhej do usko?” (May we send a person)

Dr Agarwal nods and takes Rs 2,000 from us as advance. DIG then introduces Dr Agarwal to Nasir, who posed as a beggar.

Dr Agarwal: “Kahan se nikal vana hai?” (Which portion of the legs do you want to be amputated?)

DIG: “Beech mein se kariye.” (From the middle)

Dr Agarwal: “Phir artificial limb lag jayegi na. Jab artificial lagana hoga, tab artificial lag jayega.” (That’s good, as then we can put up artificial legs)

Nasir, the fake beggar, is taken to Dr Agarwal’s Uma Nursing home in Ghaziabad where his blood and urine are tested and a registration form is filled up.

Dr Agarwal then makes a suggestion. “Yeh kuch nahin. Ya phir left ke teen fingers hi cut kar, ya wrist se cut kar lo,” he says. (Why don’t you get three fingers of his left hand chopped off? Or we can cut off the wrist)

DIG: “Teen ungli ya haath ko cut kar lo.” (Cut off his three fingers or a wrist)

Dr Agarwal also had advice on how to make the amputation look legal on documents.

DIG: “To main hi le ke aaunga. To usko kaise show karenge aap, ke iska pair kharab hai, ya haath kharab hai.” (How will you show that the surgery was necessary?)

Dr Agarwal: “Gangrene hua hai show kar denge” (We will show that he had gangrene)

DIG: “Theek hai. Gangrene aap kaise develop karenge, medicine se?” (That’s okay, but how will you develop the gangrene. Using medicines?)

Dr Agarwal: “Nahin voh vessels ko aapne block kar diya.” (Not medicines, we will get the blood vessels blocked)

Dr Agarwal: “Ek do stitch mein vessels blood supply neeche ki gone to gangrene develop ho jayegi do teen din mein.” (If we stitch up the blood vessels, then the leg will develop gangrene in two-three days)

There are more than 12,000 handicapped beggars in Delhi alone. And it’s doctors like Ajay Agarwal that help the beggar mafia to mutilate, terrorise and live off the beggars of the city. A fact confirmed by beggars themselves

Nasir was through a series of medical tests, so that Dr Agarwal could protect himself legally.

DIG: “Usse kuch consent bhi lena hoga. Mareez se kuch consent bhi lena hoga.” (Don’t we have to take the patient’s consent for the amputation?)

Dr Agarwal: “Hanh pehle accident mein kharab hua tha, yeh likhwa lenge. Pehle accident mein kharab hua tha, ab yeh chalne layak nahin hai isi liye main yeh tang katva ne ke liye tayyar hoon.” (We will show in documents that he damaged his leg in an accident and now wants to get it amputated because it’s useless)

Dr Agarwal: “Unko ten thousand mein kar hi denge.” (I will do this for Rs 10,000)

Dr.Ajay Agarwal was paid another Rs 2,000 at this point. Later that day while the hospital attendants got ready for the amputation, Nasir and the DIG team escaped.

Ramesh and many beggars like him couldn’t make a similar escape.

(With inputs from DIG investigator Jamshed Khan and CNN-IBN's Neeti Tandon and Rohit Khanna)