Khan Chacha Oxygen Concentrator hoarding case: Everything we know so far

Oxygen concentrator (Representational image)

The Delhi High Court on May 14 declined to grant interim relief to businessman Navneet Kalra in connection with the oxygen concentrator black marketing case being probed by Delhi Police’s crime branch.

The matter was heard by Justice Subramonium Prasad, who had also taken up the matter on May 13 after a trial court rejected the anticipatory bail plea moved by Kalra.

‘Unable to understand the offence’

On May 12, in another hearing related to the case, while granting bail to four co-accused, including the CEO and vice-president of Delhi-based mobile and data solutions provider firm Matrix Cellular Services, for their alleged role in hoarding and selling oxygen concentrators, said it was unable to understand the ‘offence’ they had committed, according to a report in Hindustan Times.

READ: COVID-19 Update | Delhi Police recover over 100 oxygen concentrators from two restaurants

The Delhi Police had on May 8 arrested the accused including CEO Gaurav Khanna, and vice president Gaurav Suri of Matrix Cellular along with three others in connection with the alleged black marketing of oxygen concentrators (524) that were recovered from Town Hall and Khan Chacha restaurant in Delhi’s Khan market, Nege & Ju restaurant in Lodhi Colony, and Matrix’s warehouse in South Delhi’s Chhatarpur. The accused were booked under sections related to cheating, Epidemic Diseases Act, and Essential Commodities Act.

The investigation and charges

The Delhi Police’s crime branch probing the case said that Matrix Cellular had received a consignment of 650 oxygen concentrators from China of which 524 were recovered. Of these, 387 concentrators were found at a farmhouse owned by Matrix Cellular in Chhatarpur, and the remaining at Khan Chacha (96), Town Hall (9) and Nege Ju (32).

In its status report submitted before the court, Police said that the firm allegedly sold the oxygen concentrators at profits ranging between Rs 40,000 and Rs 42,000 – a charge that the company rejected.

“The company has admitted the procurement price of the medical equipment ranging between Rs 12,500 and Rs 20,669, and selling that at rates up to Rs 70,000 and above per piece,” police said according to a report in the Print.

“It is a clear case of a conspiracy hatched by the accused to wrongfully gain in the pandemic by compelling the needy to pay more than market rates for oxygen concentrators,” said a police official.

Also read: Hoarding, black marketing of medicines and oxygen devices soars in Delhi

A Delhi police spokesperson told MoneyControl that Crime Branch would be able to comment in the investigations so far. Phone calls to crime branch officials went unanswered.

Police have alleged that Chinese oxygen concentrators were purchased for Rs 12,500 and Rs 20,669 and sold for Rs 70,000 and above per piece in pandemic is black marketing. The firm has denied the allegations calling the investigation “misguided” and “baseless”. In a statement the firm said that the oxygen concentrators weren’t sold at exorbitant prices, and that they were dealing in the goods legally by paying all taxes and import duties.

The statement on the company's website said that since matter is now sub judice before the Delhi High Court, hence Matrix shall not make any further statement.

"The company has complete faith in our criminal justice system and is confident of clearing its name and those of its employees at the earliest," the statement said.

Navneet Kalra a “scapegoat to divert attention”?

Kalra, whose bail plea will be heard on May 18, told the court through his lawyers that he was made a “scapegoat so that the attention is diverted from core issues in society”.

Senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, representing Kalra, who is allegedly on the run, asked the trial court how can Kalra be accused of selling the oxygen concentrators at exorbitant prices, when there is no ceiling price fixed by the government.

“A campaign was launched against him by his competitors and people who don’t like him,” Pahwa told the court alleging that the police had based its investigation on social media posts.

Public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, however, told the court that Kalra’s custodial interrogation was required and that bail should not be granted as he was an influential person.

“His intention was to cheat the public at large and wrongfully gain. Had Delhi Police not busted the racket, many people would have been cheated,” he alleged.

Senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Kalra in the bail plea before the High Court on May 14, contended 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. In the hearing on May 13, Singhvi, according to the Bar and Bench, said that Kalra had purchased the oxygen concentrators from Matrix Cellular with invoices, having paid Goods and Services Tax (GST) and that he was not hoarding the machines.

The Kalra-Matrix link

According to the Police, Kalra worked with his friend Gagan Duggal, owner of Matrix Cellular Services, to sell the equipment. Police said Duggal lives abroad and allegedly procured the concentrators from China to sell at an inflated price in Delhi.

During verification, police said, they found that the four officials of Matrix firm, now released on Bail, were allegedly selling the equipment through a portal named X-Factor, which has a logo of Matrix Cellular Services and sells a range of COVID-19 products.

“All the concentrators were imported in the name of Matrix Cellular and were collected from the airport after claiming that they were being sent to hospitals,” an officer said.

Overpricing apart, the oxygen concentrators were of substandard quality, a report in Hindu said citing medical experts. The experts, according to the report, said that these oxygen concentrators are unfit for COVID-19 patients.