Hyderabad:The Rachakonda Special Operations Team (SoT) and Ghatkesar police, in a joint operation, Thursday arrested a duo-a certified radiological analyst and an anesthesia technician, involved in providing 'illegal' fingerprint surgeries to help Kuwait deportees re-enter with new fingerprints.
Two of their clients who were earlier deported from Kuwait were also arrested by the police. The racket which is run by word-of-mouth comprises of the paramedical staff - G Naga Muneshwar Rao (radiologist) who works in a diagnostic centre and S Venkat Ramana (anesthesia technician) working at a private hospital, police said.
Their 'patients' Bovila Shiva Shankar Reddy and Rama Krishna Reddy, both construction workers. The quartet is from YSR Kadapa district of Andhra Pradesh. During the raids, police seized surgical supplies used for the fingerprint surgery from a hotel room in Ghatkesar.
The radiological analyst and anesthesia technician, had been performing this surgery through self-learning and have offered their services to several deportees across the country. The duo was charging Rs 25,000 per person.
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"The duo was caught in the act while they were performing surgeries to a trio all from their village. Of this three, Bovial Shiva Shankar Reddy and Rama Krishna Reddy were nabbed during the raid," he said. The hunt for the missing person is on while the police are poring over the details of the several others including those from Rajasthan and Kerala who had underwent the fingerprint change surgery.
Explaining the Modus Operandi, police said the surgeon would cut the upper layer of the fingertip, remove some part of the tissue and re-stitch it. This wound would get healed in a month or two with a slight change of fingerprint pattern. The change in the pattern would last for about a year.
The deportee will be able to re-enter Kuwait as many times as he or she wants using the changed fingerprint. Once they get the changed fingerprint, the deportees would update their fingerprints and address through Aadhaar update centres. Using the updated address, they apply for a new visa and get processed.
Police said the deportees are aware of this exercise and those who choose this method are those deported for petty crimes and over stay in Kuwait. They were also aware of the not-so sophisticated fingerprint scanning systems in Kuwait and were exploiting it to their benefit.
The duo first came to know about this surgery through a common friend who has been deported from Kuwait and had reentered the country after a successful fingerprint surgery in neighbouring Sri Lanka. The duo decided to make it a trade here.
