Police arrested five people including two personal assistants of a senior nephrologist at Apollo Hospital for running an inter-state kidney racket in the capital.

The convicts have been identified as Aditya Singh (24), Shailesh Saxena (31), Aseem Sikdar (37), Devashish Moulik (30) and Satya Prakash (30), said Deputy Commissioner of Police (southeast district) M S Randhawa.

Three of those arrested are believed to be touts, who arranged donors.

The mastermind of the racket has been identified as Aseem.

According to police sources, the gang used to tempt poor people from various states, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, to donate their kidneys for a sum of Rs 2.5-3 lakh each in Delhi, while the recipients were asked to pay Rs 25-30 lakh. The nephrologist’s PAs and touts received Rs 50,000 each.

The Delhi Police has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case. Investigations have revealed that the members of the gang were also active in Jalandhar, Punjab.

Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) – Southeast said, "The gang have sold at least six kidneys so far in the city".

Apollo Hospital stated that police had identified secretarial staff of some doctors, who were not employees of the hospital.

A case has been registered in the Sarita Vihar police station and the people accused of running the kidney racket are being interrogated.