Nepal police to file charges against Kumar

New Delhi: Amit Kumar, the alleged mastermind of a kidney transplant racket, will face charges in three cases in Nepal on Saturday, which may prove to be a roadblock to his early deportation to India.

Kumar was arrested on Thursday night after checking into a hotel in the Nepalese jungle resort town of Chitwan, said local police chief Kiran Gautam.

Nepalese police filed charges of illegal organ transplants and foreign currency violations against the doctor.

Nepalese minister Ram Chandra Poudel said that Kumar would be sent back to India but that it could take several weeks or months.

India has sought the extradition of Kumar, accused of heading a syndicate that illegally removed hundreds of kidneys, sometimes from terrified and unwilling labourers held at gunpoint in makeshift hospitals, an official said.

Kumar insists the accusations against him are false. He said "That is wrong, absolutely wrong. I have not duped anybody. I can only say that I have not committed any crime."