Kerala police have started their investigation into reports that blood samples of members of the Cholanaykars tribe - one of the most primitive in Kerala that live still in caves and crude huts deep inside the forests near Nilambur
Kerala police have started their investigation into reports that blood samples of members of the Cholanaykars tribe - one of the most primitive in Kerala that live still in caves and crude huts deep inside the forests near Nilambur - were smuggled out for foreign pharmaceutical companies.
'Mangalam,' a Malayalam newspaper, quoting Intelligence Bureau (IB) inputs, said that the blood samples of the members of Cholanaykar tribe were trafficked for foreign pharmaceutical companies three years back. A research scholar, who was studying the community had alerted the state government about the trafficking two years back. She had complained to the Chief Minister and the Tribal Welfare Minister, the report said
The newspaper reported that the blood samples of the community members were collected by some individuals who entered the forests under the guise of volunteer work. The blood-trafficking lobby could not have done it without the help of government officials, it said.
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It is still not clear why the pharmaceutical companies would want the blood samples. One theory is that the ‘unadulterated’ blood of the primitive tribe is valuable in pharmaceutical research and would fetch good money. The tribal community that live deep in the forests, without much external contacts, are also not used to modern medicines. The blood samples of such tribes are much in demand for medical experimentation, the report said. Depending on forest for food and medicines, Cholanaykars are known to be immune to various diseases.
Even though the police started investigation, the officials confessed that it would be a tough task to track the incident that took place before 2014. The police will have to record statements of police and forest department officials who worked in Nilambur area in that period. Malappuram Special Branch DYSP D Ashok Kumar, who is in charge of the investigation, said that most of the officers have shifted to other places.
The blood was allegedly collected by two doctors who were working in the tribal area. There are reports that one of them died, making it more difficult for the police to move further. Meanwhile, an activists have approached Kerala High Court, requesting it to take action based on media reports.
