Today 96 #OxygenConcentrators found illegally stored in Khan Chacha restaurant in Khan Market. Till now, in last 24 hours, @DCPSouthDelhi has raided 3 restaurants in Delhi and they found 524 concentrators illegally stored. pic.twitter.com/rHv2RrGIKb
— Kirandeep (@raydeep) May 7, 2021
At the center of the racket and the main accused is Navneet Kalra, who owns the famous restaurant Khan Chacha at Khan Market and Nege Joo Restaurant and Bar in Lodhi Colony in central Delhi.
Also read Navneet Kalra arrested in Oxygen concentrator ‘black marketing’ case
And in the latest development, 96 oxygen concentrations were seized from Khan Chacha, a popular food joint in Khan Market.
A day after four people, including the manager of a restaurant in Delhi’s Lodhi Colony, charged with hoarding and black marketing with more than 400 oxygen concentrations, police arrested at least 96 more oxygen from a restaurant in New Delhi’s Khan Market area Concentrations recovered.
At the center of the racket and the main accused is Navneet Kalra, who owns the famous restaurant Khan Chacha at Khan Market and Nege Joo Restaurant and Bar in Lodhi Colony in central Delhi. Kalra is a well-known businessman who owns and currently operates the well-known Dayal Optics. A man is initiated to cheat him.
The raid of the mine market was part of a massive crackdown against hoarders selling oxygen concentrations in the black market amid a major shortage. The Delhi Police has seized more than 450 oxygen concentrations in several raids across the city, the largest in Lodhi Colony, which alone recovered 419 machines. The Lodhi Colony operation caused the largest seizure during this epidemic.
How did the police bust it?
The first tipoff from a WhatsApp message to the police was allegedly sent by Kalra to his acquaintance, detailing his account details in exchange for a concentration. Subsequently, watchmen were monitored at Kalra’s bar in the central market, Lodhi Colony.
After searching the restaurant, a person was found sitting with a laptop and was receiving orders for oxygen concentrations through an online portal. Upon a search of the restaurant complex, a total of 32 boxes of oxygen with a capacity of 9 liters and 5 liters were found, along with a box of thermal scanners and another box with an N-95 mask.
Detailed inquiries led the police to a warehouse at Khullar Farm, Mandi village. Another discovery was made at the farm and 387 more units of oxygen concentrators were recovered, which were being sold at exorbitant rates in the black market. The invoices of these oxygen concentrators were being sold at Rs 70,000 per piece, fake MRP stickers were also recovered on them. Oxygen concentrations based on capacity. 40,000 – 50,000 can be between Rs.
The eminent persons of the city are calling for strict action against the perpetrators of such illegal and inhumane activities, when Delhi-NCR is going through the worst crisis ever.
An FIR has been lodged against the four accused identified as Gaurav Singh, Satish Sethi, Vikrant and Hitesh under sections of Essential Commodities Act and Epidemic Diseases Act.