Delhi court slams concentrator ‘scam’ probe

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Tuesday came down heavily on the prosecution in the

oxygen concentrators hoarding case

where various people, including Matrix Cellular CEO Gaurav Khanna and restaurateur

Navneet Kalra

, have been accused of black marketing and cheating.


Chief metropolitan magistrate Arun Kumar Garg was hearing the bail applications filed by Khanna and other arrested Gaurav Suri, Satish Sethi, Vikrant and Hitesh Kumar.

“You came out with an order on May 7 that one cannot sell (Covid-19 equipment) above the

MRP

but the

FIR

in this case is on May 5. Job of the government is not to create terror… You have to go by the law… If there is no law and you feel there is a vacuum then you fill it,” Garg said..
HC: Can you just pick up people to fill up vacuum?

It seems you are abdicating your responsibility of fixing the price for imported medical items… If the state is not filling up the vacuum, can you pick up people?” Garg said.

Senior counsel Mohit Mathur, appearing for some of the accused persons, argued that bail ought to be granted as a rule. He submitted that the investigating agency hadn’t placed even one invoice on record to claim that the company through its employees had sold the concentrators for a price higher than MRP. “It is all conjectural. All surmises... Now they just want to flog a dead horse… The case was never there,” the senior lawyer submitted.

Trideep Pais, who argued on Khanna’s behalf, highlighted that a writ filed in the Delhi high court disclosed every purchase, every sale made by his client. “Every procurement, every price list and every sale… We are ready to give every invoice also… I go to the investigation, I go there voluntarily knowing that my colleagues are in custody. Without even informing my lawyers who were standing outside, I was arrested,” submitted Pais.

Appearing for Hitesh Kumar, who is a hotel manager, advocate Vineet Malhotra argued that his client was not even involved in the sale and purchase of the machines.

Following the submissions on behalf of the accused, the court turned to public prosecutor Atul Shrivastava, who opposed the bail saying cheating had been committed against the government and on a large scale. He also pointed out that the investigation was at an initial stage.

“The story says they imported items that cleared customs duty… The transactions have been made through banks… State and central GST has been paid, which means that the government has accepted the tax. This means this happened under the nose of the government and nothing is concealed. There is even a requisition from the ministry for 100 concentrators. So that means everybody is aware,” the court said.

The court will pass order on the bail applications on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, another court of special judge Sumit Dass refused to grant any interim protection from arrest to Kalra. The court placed Kalra’s anticipatory bail application before the district and sessions judge to decide which court will hear it.

Kalra in his plea stated, “All imports have been made through legal banking channels and there is not even a single oxygen concentrator which has been clandestinely or illegally imported. All imports are legally documented and all sales were taking place legally after payment of GST and other applicable taxes.”