Bhopal News: Interstate Plasma Theft Racket At AIIMS Busted, Six Held

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Making new revelations in plasma theft case at AIIMS Hospital, the Bagsewania police on Wednesday busted the full extent of the interstate racket.

The racket was involved in trafficking of Fresh Frozen Plasma (FFP) worth approximately Rs 12 lakh from AIIMS Hospital’s blood bank. Police have arrested six persons linked to the crime and recovered 1,123 units of stolen plasma and cash of Rs 8.57 lakh from the accused.

According to DCP Zone-2 Vivek Singh, the breakthrough came following an investigation conducted by inspector Amit Soni, incharge of Bagsewania police station.

Plasma unit theft from AIIMS blood bank was reported on September 29. A case was registered against Ankit Kelkar, an outsourced employee and another suspect.

During questioning, Kelkar revealed that he had planned the theft with Amit Jatav (25) and Lucky Pathak (30), both acquaintances from a private blood bank. Kelkar’s outsourcing contract with AIIMS was about to expire on September 30, which led him to steal 1,150 FFP plasma packets.

Cops arrested Amit Jatav and Lucky Pathak who admitted selling the stolen plasma to Deepak Pathak (35) who then supplied it to blood bank employees Shyam Badgujar (27) of Indore and Karan Chavan (25) of Aurangabad. The plasma was sold at Rs 5,800 per litre.

Police later arrested Badgujar and Chavan, recovering 1,123 plasma units (about 224 litres) from their possession. They were allegedly planning to sell the stolen plasma to pharmaceutical companies for use in making albumin and other medical products.

Recovered:

  • 1,123 units: FFP plasma worth Rs 11.72 lakh

  • Rs 8.57 lakh: Earned through illegal sale

  • One: Deep freezer worth Rs 27,000 used for plasma storage

Knowledge exploited

Kelkar, having worked at AIIMS for three years, exploited his detailed knowledge of the hospital’s blood bank layout to bypass security and steal the plasma.

The stolen stock was transported and sold through an interstate network spanning Bhopal, Indore, Nashik, Aurangabad and Beed (Maharashtra). Police suspect involvement of other persons in the racket.

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