Surgery
(representational image) A husband in India has confessed to stealing his wife's kidney during her appendix operation Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

A woman in India has filed a police complaint accusing her husband of stealing her kidney. Rita Sarkar told police in the state of West Bengal that she believed her spouse sold her organ without her consent after her family was unable to provide a substantial dowry.

The Hindustan Times reported that Sarkar claimed her in-laws started harassing her about not receiving the Rs 200,000 ($3,108, £2,238) they expected following her marriage 12 years ago. She alleged that they planned to steal her kidney and sell it while she was undergoing a surgery to remove an inflamed appendix.

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"Around two years ago, I began suffering from acute stomach ache. My husband took me to a private nursing home in Kolkata [formerly Calcutta, the capital of West Bengal], where he and the medical staff told me that I would be fine after removing my inflamed appendix through surgery," she told reporters.

Following the operation, she continued to suffer from abdominal pain but claimed her husband told her not to tell anyone that she had undergone the procedure.

"I begged him to take me to a doctor to treat the pain, but he ignored me," she added.

When the pain persisted over a period of time, Sarkar was reportedly taken to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital where doctors discovered she was missing a kidney. She also sought a second opinion from another nursing home where the same was confirmed.

"I then understood why my husband implored me to keep quiet about the surgery. He sold my kidney because my family couldn't meet his demand for dowry," she said.

The West Bengal police confirmed the complaint and said they had arrested the husband and brother-in-law in connection with the suspected crime on 5 February. The two men were booked under the Transplantation of Human Organs Act.

Times Now reported that the two men have confessed to selling the kidney to a businessman from the state of Chhattisgarh.

"We have also charged three persons with attempt to murder and bride torture," police inspector Udayshankar Ghosh said, according to The Telegraph India.