Crime branch to probe recovery of 524 O2 devices from 3 Delhi restaurants

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The Delhi Police on Saturday said that the case pertaining to the recovery of 524 oxygen concentrators from three restaurants and a private firm’s godown has been transferred to the crime branch, even as Navneet Kalra, the owner of the restaurants who was allegedly involved in the purported hoarding and black marketing of the devices, is still on the run.

Police officers, who asked not to be named, said that teams have been making efforts to track Kalra, whose cellphone’s last location, they said, was in Uttarakhand before it was switched off. The cellphones of people who are close to Kalra have been put on electronic surveillance and a close vigil is being kept on their movements as well, the officers said.

HT tried to contact Kalra on Saturday through calls and text messages but he could not be reached for comment.

After recovering oxygen concentrators from the firm’s godown, police also arrested Gourav Khanna (47), the CEO of Matrix Cellular, from Gurugram on Friday. Khanna is the fifth person to have been arrested in the case. The other four include the company’s business head, manager and a sales executive, and the manager of Nege & Ju restaurant, from where the first batch of 32 oxygen concentrators was recovered. “Khanna was overseeing the import of oxygen concentrators and their sale at high prices,” DCP (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said after Khanna’s arrest on Friday.

According to police, the accused were selling oxygen concentrators, costing around Rs 20,000, for around Rs 70,000 using fake price tags. Police said the 524 seized concentrators were among 650 such machines imported from China and Hong Kong earlier this month.

“The investigating team will also look into rumours that the illegal trade started in Octobernovember,” said an officer, requesting not to be named.

“All oxygen concentrators have been imported and acquired by paying applicable import duties, GST/IGST and all sales are done through mobile app, and payments are received through online banking channels,” said Samudra Sarangi, lead counsel for Matrix. “The charges...are baseless... Matrix is a victim of police excess and will follow due legal process,” he added.

Of the 524 seized oxygen concentrators, 96 were recovered from Khan Chacha and nine from Town Hall, both restaurans tin Khan Market, following raids on Friday. The remaining 419 were recovered from Nege & Ju restaurant in Lodhi Colony and the Matrix Cellular company’s godown in south Delhi’s Chhatarpur two days before.