Kalra committed white-collar crime: Delhi Police tells court
Businessman Navneet Kalra, accused in an oxygen concentrator black marketing case, committed a white-collar crime and earned profits by selling medical devices at exorbitant prices to those on death beds, the Delhi Police told a court on Saturday. During a recent raid, 524 oxygen concentrators used for COVID-19 patients, were recovered from Khan Chacha, Town Hall, and Nege & Ju restaurants owned by Kalra.
Kalra was arrested on May 17 for allegedly hoarding concentrators
The restaurateur is in judicial custody till June 3. Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg heard the bail application filed by the businessman who was arrested on May 17 for allegedly hoarding oxygen concentrators and selling them at inflated prices.
Had no criminal intent to cheat people: Kalra
"His intention was to cheat people and make profit. This is a white-collar crime. He sold oxygen concentrators to needy people lying on death beds," Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, representing the Delhi Police, told the court and sought rejection of Kalra's bail plea. However, Kalra, through senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa had told the court that he had no criminal intent to cheat people
O2 concentrator brochures prove concentrators were not premium: Prosecutor
He had told the court that he cannot be kept in pre-trial detention. During the course of the proceedings on Saturday, the prosecutor showed Kalra's oxygen concentrator brochures to the court and said they were not premium or from Germany as claimed by the accused.
Prosecutor slammed Kalra for saying he was helping the needy
"Its flow was also below 35 percent, and he sold it for more than Rs. 70,000 as against the MRP of Rs. 27,999," he added. On Kalra's contentions that he was helping those in need, the prosecutor said, "He was not doing any charity. If he had sold them at the cost price, it would have been a charity but he took a margin."
Concentrators were not suitable for treatment of COVID-19 patients: Prosecutor
The police further relied on a report by the Sriram Institute for Industrial Research on the oxygen concentrators' efficacy and submissions of doctors from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). Shrivastava said that the doctors opined that the oxygen concentrators were not suitable for the treatment of COVID-19 patients due to their low efficacy.
The businessman tampered with evidence: Prosecutor
"It is useless and as good as a box. Using them for even mild and moderate patients would cause harm. It will accelerate death," the prosecutor said. He further apprised the court about the gravity of the offense and sought rejection of bail on grounds that the businessman tampered with evidence, deleted material from the device, and gave a bad name to society.
Concentrators were imported from China and sold at exorbitant prices
The police has claimed that the concentrators were imported from China and were being sold at an exorbitant price of Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 70,000 a piece against its cost of Rs. 16,000 to Rs. 22,000.
Case has been registered against Kalra under relevant IPC sections
On May 5, a case was registered against Kalra under Sections 420 (cheating), 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by public servant), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Essential Commodities Act and the Epidemic Diseases Act. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has also registered a money laundering case against him.
