Chennai, May 28 (IANS): The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Tamil Nadu Police has taken three persons into custody from different parts of the state in connection with a kidney racket based out of Kerala with international connections.

Those taken into custody were allegedly involved in connecting kidney donors with recipients, police sources said.

On May 19, Kerala Police arrested a person named Sabith Nasar (30) after he returned from Iran following inputs from central intelligence agencies, which were monitoring his whereabouts for the past couple of months.

While Nasar admitted to being involved in the illegal sale of kidneys of around 20 people in Iran, the police suspect the involvement of more people in this case.

During questioning, the accused disclosed the involvement of another person named Sajith Shyam, a resident of Kochi, who Nasar claimed was the person behind the money transactions in the kidney racket.

Nasar and Shyam, who was arrested later, revealed the presence of many agents in various parts of the country, including in several north Indian states.

The Tamil Nadu Police began a parallel investigation into the case and directed all the DSPs to conduct a probe into the missing person cases in their respective jurisdictions.

Based on this probe, three persons were taken into custody from Coimbatore and Pollachi, who, according to the police, admitted to having connections with Nasar.

The Tamil Nadu Police are also probing the involvement of certain persons in the coastal regions of the state who went to Middle Eastern countries recently.