India has launched an international hunt for a doctor accused of running an illegal clinic that duped between 500 and 600 poor labourers into selling their kidneys and then peddled them to foreign clients.

Police uncovered the clinic last week in an upmarket private house in Gurgaon, a wealthy satellite town of Delhi that is home to hundreds of call centres, shopping malls and IT companies. They arrested one doctor, a driver and three middlemen and rescued five “donors”, three of whom had recently had their kidneys removed and had to be taken to hospital.

They also detained five alleged foreign clients, including two Americans of Indian origin and three Greek citizens, at a guesthouse linked to the clinic. However, police say that the alleged mastermind, identified as Amit Kumar, escaped after being tipped off about the raid and may have fled overseas using his foreign client network.

“We are not ruling out the possibility that he may have escaped abroad by using his contacts. However, he will not be able to escape the legal channels,” Mohinder Lal, the Gurgaon police commissioner, said. “We are not going to let him have an easy run for long. A man accused of being involved in 500 illegal transplants will not be allowed to go scot-free and we will track him down soon.”

Police, who raided several more of Dr Kumar's properties yesterday, have issued photographs of him, his brother and two other doctors to all Indian airports. They are also preparing to approach Interpol to obtain a “red corner” international arrest warrant for Dr Kumar, who is believed to have one home in Canada. The foreigners were allowed to leave India on Sunday because there was insufficient evidence against them, police said.

The alleged kidney racket is one of the biggest to have been uncovered in India and revived calls for a review of India's strict transplant laws, which some blame for its flourishing black market in human organs. Others say that the problem lies with corrupt police and government officials who have repeatedly turned a blind eye to Dr Kumar's alleged racket — and many others like it.

Dr Kumar was arrested in 1994 for running a similar clinic in Bombay under the name Santosh Raut, but disappeared after being freed on bail and moved his alleged operation to several other cities. Similar cases were also registered against him in Delhi and the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in 2000 but he again escaped and set up shop in Gurgaon, about 15 miles (25km) outside Delhi. Police alleged that Dr Kumar used middlemen to entice poor labourers with the promise of jobs worth 150 rupees (about £2) a day, plus food and accommodation, and then offer them money for their kidneys. Those who refused were often drugged and had their kidneys removed without their permission, according to several former “donors”.

“I was approached by a stranger for a job. When I accepted, I was taken to a room with gunmen,” Muhammad Salim, one of those rescued, told NDTV television. “They tested my blood, gave me an injection and I lost consciousness. When I woke up I had pain in my lower abdomen and I was told that my kidney had been removed.” Dr Kumar would allegedly pay 50,000 to 100,000 rupees for each kidney and sell them for 1.5 million to 2.5 million rupees each. Clients allegedly came mainly from the United States, Britain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Greece. Donors were mostly from Uttar Pradesh, the most populous Indian state and one of its poorest.

India banned the trade in human organs in 1994 but non-governmental organisations estimate that 2,000 human kidneys are still sold in India every year.

Trade of shame

2007 Indian police find a clinic in Madras that carried out at least 550 illegal kidney transplants in five years

2006 Up to 150 survivors of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, mainly women around Madras, are reported to have sold their organs for 50,000 rupees (£460) each

2002 A BBC investigation finds that Indian women are selling their organs to people in Singapore for as little as £400 each, while middlemen are pocketing up to £20,000 a time

1995 Police discover an organ-trading ring in which doctors at a Bangalore hospital have removed and sold the kidneys of nearly 1,000 unsuspecting people under the pretext of taking blood samples

1992 Vijay Kaushik, an Indian doctor, reports that a group of doctors, hospital directors and officials collected and sold the kidneys and corneas of lepers in the city of Agra

Source: Times archives

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