A youth was arrested on Wednesday night for allegedly using fake donor cards and forged requisition slips from hospitals to collect blood and plasma from the Maniktala blood bank.

Anupam Bhattacharjee, 30, of Shyampukur in north Calcutta, was arrested on charges of cheating, forgery, fraud and criminal conspiracy.

Police said he would allegedly stock blood and plasma in his refrigerator at home and sell them to patients at a premium. A few requisition slips of government and private hospitals in the districts — which the police suspect are forged — and one unit of plasma were seized from his home.

“This appears to be a racket. He was forging donor cards to get blood for free from the blood bank and selling blood to relatives of patients who need it urgently,” said an officer of Maniktala police station.

According to norms, people who need blood can either deposit donor cards at the blood banks and get equivalent units of blood or bring in blood donors who donate their blood equivalent to the required units. They also need a requisition slip from the hospital — both government and private — citing the need, against which the blood or plasma is released.

“Patients don’t need to pay for blood from blood banks. Only a donor card or donor is needed,” an officer said.

“In case the requisition is from a private hospital, a processing fee is needed,” he added.

Bhattacharjee allegedly used fake donor cards and requisition slips to collect blood from Maniktala blood bank, keep them in his refrigerator at his north Calcutta home and provide blood to patients in need at Rs 1,500 or more per unit.

Police said they had got at least three cases where Bhattacharjee had “sold” blood to patients for Rs 1,500.

“The worst part is, according to the rule, the blood pouches are preserved in refrigerators at a particular temperature at the blood banks without which the blood cannot be used. But this man kept them in his domestic fridge with other food articles. There is an apprehension whether the blood he had sold to patients was at all safe,” said a senior officer in Lalbazar.

Police suspect there could be other people involved in this racket who were helping Bhattacharjee get access to blood and plasma from the blood bank without raising questions.

Police said the matter came to light when senior authorities of the Maniktala blood bank spotted it and reported the matter to the police.

Officers said it was suspected that the racket was active since at least the past few months, whose evidence police have got while investigating.