BAHAWALPUR, March 1: The kidney sale case collapsed on Thursday when hospital records showed that the woman was without her right kidney even before the operation during which the organ was allegedly removed.

Samia Bibi had lodged a complaint with the police that her husband had tricked her out of one kidney with the help of some doctors who removed the organ during an operation in Feb 2005.

A police official told Dawn that the surgeon who operated on Ms Samia informed him that an ultrasound report was attached to her patient’s file. According to Ashraf Niazi, the surgeon, the report showed Ms Samia was without the right kidney even in 2003 — when the first operation was carried out.

The police official said the surgeon’s statement prompted him to trace the hospital record. According to him, he managed to locate the file after an elaborate search

The police immediately took custody of the file, the official said, and registered a case against Ms Samia. The case against her husband and three others had been dismissed, he added.