By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Five people have been arrested in Haridwar district of Uttarakhand for allegedly organising unauthorised blood donation camps and selling at high prices in other states, police said on Monday.
Haridwar Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Navneet Singh Bhullar said the arrests were made on Sunday during checking at Alawalpur Tiraha in the Laksar area. Acting on a tip-off, police stopped two suspicious vehicles and recovered blood units, empty blood bags and equipment used for collecting and handling blood.
Police recovered 27 units of blood, 27 empty blood bags and equipment used for testing, measuring and collecting blood from an icebox kept in the boot of a Uttarakhand-registered Swift car.
A search of a Uttar Pradesh-registered Scorpio-N led to the recovery of four blood donor chairs, donor form books, a weighing machine, four arm-binding belts, slides and 28 certificates bearing the name of Amrit Charitable Blood Centre.
Bhullar said the accused allegedly organised blood donation camps in rural areas without the required permission or licence. They allegedly persuaded unsuspecting people to donate blood and then diverted the collected blood instead of depositing it with authorised blood banks.
Preliminary investigation has indicated that the blood was allegedly transported to other states and sold at inflated prices. During questioning, the accused reportedly told investigators that they sold a unit of blood for up to Rs 8,000 in Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh.
Police are now investigating the alleged network to establish how long the operation had been running and identify locations where unauthorised blood donation camps were organised. The 28 certificates recovered from the Scorpio-N are also being examined as part of the investigation.
The arrested accused have been identified as Amit Saini, a resident of Laksar, Shubham Kumar of Khanpur, Dushyant Kumar of Bijnor, Uttar Pradesh, Kavendra Kumar of Moradabad and Daya Singh of Sambhal.
A case has been registered at Laksar police station under relevant sections of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police said the investigation was continuing and further legal action would be taken based on the evidence that emerges.
The SSP said strict action would be taken against those exploiting the sensitive and humanitarian act of blood donation for illegal activities. The case has also raised concerns over unauthorised blood collection and the diversion of donated blood outside the regulated blood-bank system.