Durgapur blood donation racket: TMC leader among 3 arrested for exploiting minors with fake Aadhaar cards

New Delhi: A shocking blood donation racket targeting minor school students through cash inducements has rocked the state of West Bengal, sparking political tumult and widespread indignation in Durgapur. Police have arrested three individuals in connection with the scam: local Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Amit Prasad, Mohammad Habibullah, and Debapriya Chattopadhyay, a former student of the targeted school.

According to police sources, Chattopadhyay acted as an agent on the ground after being recruited by Prasad and Habibullah. Chattopadhyay, who cleared his Madhyamik examinations and left the private school during the 2023–24 academic year, recently began frequenting the school grounds during dismissal hours.

Investigating officers revealed that Chattopadhyay would mingle with students from Classes 8, 9, and 10 under the guise of casual conversation, specifically targeting students from economically weaker backgrounds. Once he gained their trust, he would show them fake video recordings of critically ill children to appeal to their emotions and persuade them to donate blood.

If a student agreed, the racket would obtain their Aadhaar card, tamper with the date of birth field to falsely depict the minor as an adult, and create fraudulent identity documents. Armed with these altered papers, the minors were taken to private medical facilities where blood was extracted. In return, the students were handed small sums of money ranging from Rs 250 to Rs 500.

Sharing their ordeal, one student victim revealed, “I donated blood twice within three and a half months. He told many of us that if we brought in more boys, we would receive a commission between Rs 200 and Rs 500.”

Another affected student recalled, “They extracted blood citing someone’s illness and said the money given to us was a token of gratitude from the patient’s family. Later, Debapriya suddenly asked if I had a spare bank account. He offered me Rs 10,000 if I handed it over to him. That alarmed me because it felt illegal, so I cut off all communication with him after that day.”

Police have intensified their probe into the network to uncover the full extent of the racket and determine whether additional private medical units or accomplices were involved.