ED raids premises linked to Kalra, others in OC hoarding case

New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate on Friday raided at least 10 premises linked to businessman Navneet Kalra and his associates in Delhi-NCR as part of a money-laundering probe linked to a recent case of alleged hoarding and black-marketing of oxygen concentrators, officials said. The concentrators are in short supply as they are being anxiously scoured by those gasping for breath amid the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the country.

Official sources said the searches are being conducted at least 10 locations in the national capital region under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The raids are aimed to gather additional evidence, they said.

The ED had recently booked Kalra and others under the anti-money laundering law, taking cognisance of a Delhi Police FIR filed on May 5 after policemen raided some restaurants and premises owned and linked to Kalra.

The police had recovered more than 524 of these life-saving machines from these premises and it was alleged that they were being hoarded and sold in the black market.

Kalra had denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the consignment was kept for regular sale.

The agency, officials had earlier said, will probe if the oxygen concentrators were illegally hoarded and sold to the family members or caregivers of coronavirus-infected patients at exorbitant prices, thereby leading to generation of "proceeds of crime" as defined under the PMLA.

The ED is empowered to question and record the statements of the accused and it can even attach their properties during the course of investigation, following which it files a charge sheet before a special PMLA court seeking their prosecution under the anti-money laundering law.

Kalra was nabbed by Delhi Police Crime Branch sleuths from Gurgaon on Sunday night and was formally arrested the next day.

He was on the run for over a week since the seizure of more than 500 oxygen concentrators from his restaurants like Khan Chacha, Town Hall, and Nega & Ju.

Four employees of Matrix Cellular company, including its CEO and vice president, were also arrested in this case by the police.

They were, however, granted bail by the court. Kalra is alleged to have purchased the concentrators from Matrix Cellular, which had imported them.