Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru (DC)

Bengaluru, May 25: The family members of a man, who was lynched on suspicion that he was a child trafficker, are alleging that he had fallen prey to a kidney donation racket, and that his life was in danger.

It may be recalled that Kalu Ram Bachanram (26, a resident of Nimaj village of Rajasthan's Pali district, was lynched on Wednesday afternoon in Bengaluru suspecting that he was a child trafficker. Kalu Ram was caught by a group of youths while he was roaming around Pension Mohalla near Cottonpet. They tied him up, beat him with rods and cricket bat, and dragged him for nearly a kilometre till the Sirsi flyover, until a passer-by called the police around 1.40 pm.

Kalu Ram Bachanram

Meanwhile Kalu's sister 22-year-old Sona Ram who spoke to him on Tuesday said that he feared for his life. She suspected that her brother had become a victim to kidney donation racket.

She further said, “On Tuesday afternoon, my brother called us twice. He appeared disturbed and repeatedly said that there is a threat to his life, and there are people who want to kill him and sell his kidneys and eyes. He sounded disturbed and he cried over the phone. He called at 2.30 pm and 5.30 pm from two different numbers. He said a group of people had brought him from Pune to Bengaluru and now wanted to extract his body parts. He told me that it was his last phone call to me. Because they will not let me live, he said,"

She added that immediately after getting brother's call she approached nearest police station in Jaitaran but the police refused to register the complaint. Contrary to her statement, the Rajendra Singh Devra, Circle Officer of the Nimaj Police Circle said that they did not receive any complaint from victim's family members. He said, "We only received a phone call from the Chamarajpet police station on Wednesday around 3.30 pm. We identified the victim and traced his family and informed them of the developments."

Meanwhile, the Bengaluru city police led by ASI Gopal and his team have arrested 14 people, including four women and two juveniles, for lynching Kalu. The arrested are Gopi(18), Anbu(26), Vasanth Kumar(32), Balan(30), Nanda(20), Thirumalaiah(28), Rajesh(18), Anusha(30), Sushila(37), Indira(37), Vani(41) and two minors. All are residents of Anandapura, Giripura and Anjanappa Garden in Bengaluru. They have been sent to judicial custody while the minors have been sent to state-run remand home.Search is on for the other accused, who are on the run.