In August 2007, four doctors at a private nursing home allegedly removed a kidney of a woman who had come for a gall bladder surgery. While two of them are in the police net, search is on for main accused Dr Kamran and his assistant Shabana.

On June 5, 2007, doctors at Varanasi's Hindu Seva Sadan hospital detected a stone in the gall bladder of Hasina Khatoon, wife of weaver Abdul Aziz, a native of Mau.

"Instead of getting the stone removed in Varanasi, the family returned to Mau and went to Sahara Nursing Home," said Rajesh Rai, counsel of Hasina.

Dr Kamran ran the nursing home from a closed handloom unit on Mau-Azamgarh road, barely 100 metres from a police picket in Mirza Hadipura area.

On August 31, Kamran, alongwith Shabana, Iftiqar Ahmad and Mohd Qamar, performed a surgery ostensibly to remove the gallstone. The patient was discharged on September 8.

A few days later, Hasina complained of pain in the operated area. She went back to Dr Kamran, who refused to entertain her, said Rai.

On September 21, her husband took her to an ultrasound centre in Dev Bhawan Bhiti. The report shocked the family. While the stone was intact and visible in the gall bladder, Hasina's right kidney had disappeared, Rai said.

"We went to the Dakhsin Tola police station, but the policemen refused to file an FIR. On October 1, an application was made to SP (Mau), who instead of directing the police to lodge an FIR, ordered an inquiry to ascertain the authenticity of the episode," Rai said.

"We submitted another application, this time with the District Magistrate (Mau) for registering the case under Section 156(3) of CrPc. Following this, an FIR was registered on November 7 against Dr Kamran, Shabana, Iftiqar Ahmad and Mohd Qamar," Rai said.

That day, police arrested Mohd Qamar and Iftiqar Ahmad, but till date, Dr Kamran and Shabana are absconding.

The District Judge of Mau dismissed the bail plea of Qamar and Iftiqar on November 21. Their bail application is pending with the High Court.

P K Srivastava, Superintendent of Police, Mau, told The Indian Express, that on coming to know about two arrests, on November 7, Kamran and Shabana had moved the Allahabad High Court seeking a stay on their arrest.

In their submission, they stated that the police was unnecessarily harassing them. Hasina's kidney was extracted as it was found to be cancerous. They also contended that the kidney was safely preserved at a medical lab in Varanasi for further examination.

"Following this, we sent a team to Varanasi. But no kidney was sent to any medical lab there. The lab Kamran and Shabana named, was not a forensic laboratory but a diagnostic lab," Srivastava said.

"We have submitted our findings with the HC and are now on a lookout for Kamran and Shabana," he said.

Srivastava, however, pointed out that it was still premature to say if this was a one-off case of kidney harvest or part of an established racket.

"This has to wait till we arrest and question them. But the prospect of a big racket cannot be ruled out, as many people from Mau and Azamgarh have migrated to the Middle-East, a major player in medical tourism in India," he added.

Asked about the delay in registration of the case under Sections 326, 420 and 504 of IPC, Srivastava said: "Hasina and her husband Abdul Aziz came to us in November."