Delhi Police Arrests Businessman Navneet Kalra In Delhi Oxygen Concentrators Hoarding Case

The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested businessman Navneet Kalra, accused in connection with the recovery and seizure of Oxygen Concentrators by the Delhi Police recently from the 'Khan Chacha' cafe under his ownership recently, reported the Indian Express.

#Breaking

Oxygen Concentrators Hoarding Case: #DelhiPolice today arrested businessman #NavneetKalra, accused in connection with the recovery and seizure of #Oxygen Concentrators by the Delhi Police (source - The Indian Express) pic.twitter.com/iLL8fBrN7R

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 16, 2021

The Delhi Police had registered a case under Sec. 420,188,120B,34 of the Indian Penal Code and sec. 3 and 7 of the Essential Commodity Act 1955 for recovery of over 500 oxygen Concentrators from some restaurants in the national capital. The case has been transferred to the Crime Branch.

Delhi High Court had last week refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Kalra after he moved the High Court seeking anticipatory bail in the matter after hearing the matter for two days. A single judge bench comprising of Justice Subramonium Prasad turned down the request of Senior Advocate Abhishek Singhvi and orally remarked thus:

"I'm persuaded by the trial court's order. Interim protection cannot be given at this stage."

However, the court had adjourned the hearing till Tuesday (May 19), now, with his arrest, his pre-arrest Bail Application pending before the Delhi High Court would become infructuous and now, he will have to move the lower court to apply for regular Bail.

His Pre Arrest Bail application is pending before the #DelhiHighCourt. However, with his arrest, this application would become infructuous.

After hearing his application for 2 days, the #HighCourt had adjourned the matter for further hearing on Tuesday.https://t.co/b2oCXwJ2t9

— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) May 16, 2021

Earlier, on Thursday (May 13) Kalra's anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Sessions Court [Additional Sessions Judge Sandeep Garg] after observing thus:

"Custodial interrogation of applicant / accused is required to be carried out to unearth the entire conspiracy hatched between him and a number of co-accused persons. Therefore, Section 41(1)(b)(ii) Cr.P.C. is applicable which empowers a police officer to arrest an accused for conducting proper investigation of the offence. The possibility of applicant/accused tampering with the evidence or intimidating the prosecution witnesses cannot be ruled out. Therefore, no case for grant of anticipatory bail is made out. The application is accordingly, dismissed."