Four men were arrested over alleged black marketing of oxygen concentrators in south Delhi’s Lodhi Colony area, the police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Gaurav (47), a resident of Lajpat Nagar; Satish Sethi (44), a resident of East of Kailash; Vikrant (29), a resident of Mahipalpur; and Hitesh (32), a resident of Arjun Nagar, they said.
The police said that they have recovered 419 oxygen concentrators that were going to be sold in the black market.
Around 5 p.m. on Wednesday, patrolling officers noticed that Nege Ju Restaurant and Bar in Central Market, Lodhi Colony, was open and some “suspicious activity” was going on, a senior police officer said.
After searching the restaurant, one person was found working on a laptop. He was getting online orders for oxygen concentrators, he said.
Thermal scanners, masks
The police searched the restaurant premises and a total of 32 boxes of oxygen concentrators, one box of thermal scanner and one box containing N95 masks were found, the officer said.
The police got to know that the owner of the restaurant-cum-bar was one Navneet Kalra, he said.
“A case was registered and four persons were arrested,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Atul Kumar Thakur said.
During interrogation, the accused revealed thay they had a warehouse in Khullar Farm at Mandi Village in Chhatarpur, following which a search was conducted and 387 more units of oxygen concentrators were recovered, which the accused would sell at exorbitant prices in the black market, the DCP said.
Invoices of these oxygen concentrators were recovered. MRP stickers mentioning prices of ₹69,999 per concentrator were also recovered, the police said.
A detailed investigation is being carried out and efforts are being made to recover more concentrators and nab other offenders who are behind this black marketing racket, they said.
