BENGALURU: A 46-year-old farm worker from Magadi Town in Ramanagara district alleged that a man who facilitated her to sell her kidney for Rs 2.5 lakh to clear microfinance debts a few years back is now forcing her to get her two married daughters to sell their blood-filtering organs to repay his money.
“After the death of my husband, I was in financial distress and faced difficulties in raising my daughters, educating, and marrying them,” said Geetha whose spouse died in 2013 due to illness.
She said staffers of a local microfinance firm, who had given a loan to her husband and herself, started harassing her. “In such a difficult time, Manjunath alias Manjanna, who is a resident of Magadi Town and known to me for a long time, advised me to sell my kidney as it would fetch me a good amount and I could clear the loans. He also assured me that a human can live a healthy life with one kidney,” she said.
According to Geetha, she finally made up her mind to sell one kidney. “About three years ago, I was taken to Bengaluru in a car. There, we visited a hospital at Yeshwantpur. The recipient’s wife was waiting at the gates of the hospital. She took us inside and one kidney was removed,” Geetha said, adding she was accompanied by a couple and Manjunath.
She said Manjunath gave her Rs 2.5 lakh. However, over the last few weeks, he began forcing her to repay his money. “I protested, saying I will not give the cash. Then he said I should convince my two daughters to sell their kidneys; I refused. Manjunath shouted at me,” Geeta said.
She recalled Manjunath had threatened another woman from Magadi in a similar way. “He got her to sell her kidney and is harassing her too,” she added.
