Kochi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is investigating the operations of a health club in Kerala linked to the prime accused in a high-profile case of alleged human trafficking and organ harvesting in Iran, according to an affidavit filed in court.

The affidavit, submitted while seeking custody of Madhu Jayakumar of Vattathipadam, Palarivattom, states that he and three other accused collected money through a bank account registered under the name Stemma Club at South Indian Bank. Jayakumar, who had been in Iran, was arrested upon his return to India on November 7.

The NIA court granted custody of Jayakumar to the agency from November 12 to November 19. The affidavit alleges that the accused lured victims with promises of money and subsequently forced them to travel to Iran, where their organs were harvested.

Trafficked persons were forced to give their kidneys in a life-threatening situation, the affidavit as quoted by the court order said.

"Thereby, all the accused extorted huge sums of money and amassed illegal wealth in the form of money, crypto assets and landed properties, and thus they committed the offence pursuant to their criminal conspiracy," the NIA affidavit claimed.

Meanwhile, sources in NIA stated that their investigation shows that organ donors were primarily from Telangana, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, and the organ recipients were from various North Indian states, with the network charging up to Rs 50 lakh per transplant.

The NIA affidavit, as referred to by the court, said that Jayakumar was the kingpin of the international organ trade. According to sources, Stemma Club was a health club run by Jayakumar in Kochi with the support of co-accused Sabith Nasar of Thrissur and Sajith Shyam of Kalamassery, who were also arrested in the case.

The account was used to transfer funds received from the organ trade in Iran, and it is attached along with other properties of the accused, sources said. NIA had traced Rs 6 crore of transactions in a bank account operated by Sabith, they added.

It was on 18 May 2024 that Sabith was intercepted by immigration officials at Kochi airport on suspicion of being part of an organised organ trafficking network. Later, a police probe led to the arrest of Sajith and Bellankonda Ram Prasad, a Vijayawada native.

The arrest of Jayakumar helped the NIA to unearth the operations of the network in Iran and details about the number of people who underwent organ transplant surgery abroad, officials said. PTI