Navneet Kalra granted bail by Delhi Court in Oxygen concentrators hoarding case

In a breaking development, businessman Navneet Kalra was granted bail by a Delhi Court on Saturday in connection with the Oxygen concentrators hoarding case. Pronouncing the order, Cheif Metropolitian Magistrate Arun Garg asked Navneet Kalra to sign a personal bond with two sureties each of Rs 1 lakh. Further, the Court directed Navneet Kalra to not contact customers to whom he had sold the oxygen concentrations and was ordered to not tamper with evidence or influence witnesses alongside joining the investigation whenever required. 

The court had adjourned hearing in the bail plea twice before on May 20 and 22. On May 22, the district court dismissed the plea of Delhi Police seeking five more days of custodial interrogation of Kalra. Earlier, a similar application was junked by a different judge on May 20 and Kalra was sent to 14-day judicial custody.

Prior to this, the restaurateur was remanded to three days in police custody following his arrest. The businessman was nabbed from Gurugram on May 16 and arrested formally on the next day. Police claimed the concentrators were imported from China and were being sold at an exorbitant price of Rs 50,000 to 70,000 a piece against its cost of Rs 16,000 to Rs 22,000. The concentrators are crucial medical equipment used for COVID-19 patients and are in high demand amid the second wave of the pandemic. On May 5, a case was registered against Kalra under Section 420 (cheating), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code, Essential Commodities Act and Epidemic Diseases Act. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also registered a money laundering case against him. 

The Khan Market oxygen racket case

Amid the shortage of oxygen in the country, the Delhi Police recovered 524 seized oxygen concentrators out of which 96 were recovered from Khan Chacha restaurant, nine from Town Hall restaurant- both in Khan Market and 419 from Nege & Ju restaurant-cum bar in Lodhi Colony and the Matrix Cellular company’s godown in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur. Kalra is the owner of the aforesaid restaurants. The police registered an FIR under Sections 34, 120B, 188 and 420 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodities Act. According to the police, the accused persons are involved in hoarding and black marketing of oxygen concentrators.

Moreover, it claimed that Matrix Cellular CEO Gaurav Khanna was overseeing the import of almost 7000 oxygen concentrators and their sale at high prices. As per the invoices, each Oxygen concentrator that had been procured in bulk for not more than Rs 14,000 to Rs 16,000 from Hong Kong and China was being sold in India between Rs 50,000- Rs 70,000. 5 persons including Khanna, a sales executive, and the manager of Nege & Ju restaurant were arrested by the police. Meanwhile, a lookout circular (LOC) was issued against Kalra owing to the apprehension that he might try to flee the country. On May 12, 4 of the accused including Khanna were granted bail by the Saket court subject to a personal bond of Rs. 50,000 and surety of the like amount.