Delhi businessman arrested for selling oxygen in black-market

New Delhi: The Delhi Crime Branch arrested businessman Navneet Kalra, who was absconding since a warrant issued against him for hoarding oxygen concentrators and selling them in the black market.

The arrest followed the Delhi High Court declension of his plea seeking protection from arrest after the seizure of Oxygen Concentrators from the 'Khan Chacha' cafe he owned.

Soon after the seizure, he went into hiding, as the Delhi police issued a lookout notice, charging on him a case under Sec. 420,188,120B, 34 of the Indian Penal Code and sec. 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodity Act 1955.

Kalra has been accused of selling oxygen concentrators online at a high rate of Rs 70,000 apiece after importing those from China at a rate of Rs 20,000-25,000.

Delhi Police's Crime Branch are said to have arrested Kalra on Sunday from his brothers-in-law's farmhouse in Gurugram.

Senior Advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, who attended for Kalra with the interim bail plea in the Delhi High Court, argued that in the absence of a government order capping the price of oxygen concentrators, Kalra could not be said to in violation of the Essential Commodities Act.

Meanwhile, the co-accused in the case, employees of Matrix Cellular, were granted bail on Wednesday after remaining in police custody for more than a week