A television sting claimed to expose a thriving "arms-for-alms" trade in India yesterday when journalists apparently caught doctors on screen agreeing to amputate the limbs of beggars for as little as 10,000 rupees (£125).
An investigation by the CNN-IBN news channel showed three doctors taking money from the reporters, who said they were looking for medics to amputate beggars' limbs. There appears to be a thriving trade in Delhi where gangs kidnap beggars and force them to undergo surgery so that their deformities attract sympathy.
CNN-IBN news said the price to amputate limbs from healthy patients, an illegal act in India, ranged from 10,000 rupees to 40,000 rupees. It reported that there were 12,000 "handicapped" beggars in India's capital.
Police questioned one of the doctors, PK Bansal. He has denied the allegations. The two other doctors - Ajay Kumar Agarwal and Arvind Agarwal, the secretary of the Orthopaedic Association of Bareilly in northern India - have disappeared.
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