Black marketing case: Navneet Kalra arrested from Gurugram farmhouse, say Delhi Police

New Delhi: The Delhi Police have now arrested one of the city's top businessmen, Navneet Kalra from a Gurugram farmhouse, in a case where he has been accused of hoarding and selling oxygen equipment in black allegedly along with SIM company Matrix Cellular Services Limited.

The Delhi Police had been looking for Kalra ever since it discovered as many as 500 oxygen concentrators stocked at three of the city's upscale restaurants owned by Kalra. The police have claimed that they found 7,000 concentrators for sale in the black market with all accused in the case.

According to several reports, Kalra was found in a Gurugram farmhouse belonging to his brother-in-law.

Kalra's arrest comes after his pleas for anticipatory bail and interim protection from arrest were rejected. He had first applied for anticipatory bail in a lower court, which denied him the relief. He then appealed this decision to the Delhi High Court, which is currently hearing the matter.

However, the Delhi High Court has refused to grant interim relief to Kalra in the case several times so far.

Significantly, Matrix CEO Gaurav Khanna, Vice President Gaurav Suri, Satish Seth, Hitesh Kumar and Vikrant who were arrested earlier on in the case, have been granted bail and the Delhi High Court has on more than one occassion pointed out that the illegality/legality of Kalra's actions cannot be seen in a vacuum without first considering that the government had not issued price regulatory notifications for essential items by the time the case was registered.

The Delhi Police have alleged that Kalra worked with Gagan Duggal, owner of Matrix and a friend, to sell the equipment, mostly imported from China. Officials claimed that the accused imported the equipment at prices ranging from Rs 16,000 to Rs 20,000 each and then sold it to residents in Delhi for as much as Rs 70,000.

Meanwhile, advocate Vineet Malhotra, one of Kalra's lawyers told Millennium Post that they would move an urgent bail application before the Saket District Court today (Monday).