Chitwan, February 8:

Though kidney racket kingpin Dr Amit Kumar, an Indian national, has landed in the police net, his key accomplice is still at large.

The accomplice, identified only by his family name - Thapa - managed to get away while the police were digging for information about the guests at the Sauraha-based Hotel Wildlife Resort yesterday.

Police believe that though the room (no 6) of the hotel was booked in the name of a Nepali national named Manish Singh, it was none other than Kumar for whom the room was meant. Police inspector Prakash Malla said that Kumar’s statement during the preliminary interrogation did not ring true.

“He told us that Kumar paid Rs 15,000 to Thapa to accompany him to the hotel. But, that seems doubtful, “ said Malla.

An eyewitness to yesterday’s incident said that others present found it strange to see Kumar cutting out and pocketing the report about the kidney racket carried on the front page of Thursday’s edition of The Himalayan Times at the hotel’s reception.

The eyewitness said, “Call it his bad luck, sheer coincidence or police perseverance, but right after he returned to his room a police team came and showed everyone his photograph. Then, everyone knew he was the suspect in the kidney racket.”

Malla confirmed that Kumar tried to bribe his way out. The joint police team from Ratnanagar and Bachhauli area police offices led by sub-inspector Raju Sharma remained unmoved at the offer of filthy lucre.

“After seeing the police, Kumar made no attempt to run away or resist. He instead offered the police team a huge sum of money to let him go,” said Malla.

Sources said that Kumar had initially checked into Hotel Jungle Nepal Resort with two others on Wednesday. He, however, shifted to Hotel Wildlife Resort on Thursday as the other hotel did not have TV facility.

Police said that he might have come to Sauraha for exchanging a huge number of Indian currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination at the Sauraha money exchange counter.

Chitwan SP Pushkar Raj Regmi said that Euro 1,54,000, US $18,900, bank drafts of Indian Rs 9,36,000, 50 traveller’s cheques worth US $100, three mobile sets and an Indian passport were confiscated from Kumar’s room.