Delhi Court Remands Navneet Kalra To 3 Days Police Custody In Oxygen Concentrators Hoarding Case

A Delhi Court on Monday sent businessman Navneet Kalra to 3 days police custody remand who is 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.

The order was pronounced by Duty Metropolitan Magistrate Archana Beniwal on the application of Delhi Police seeking  5 days police custody.

The development came after the Delhi Police arrested Kalra yesterday in the matter. The Delhi Police had registered a case under Sec. 420,188,120B,34 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 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, his pre-arrest Bail Application pending before the Delhi High Court would now become infructuous.

Earlier, last week 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."

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