Delhi cops recover more than 100 oxygen concentrators from raids in more restaurants

A day after the Delhi Police seized 419 oxygen concentrators from a restaurant in South Delhi’s Lodhi Colony and arrested four men including the manager of the restaurant for allegedly black-marketeering the machines, the police found the accused were hiding oxygen concentrators in two more restaurants in Khan Market.

On Wednesday, the police raided Nege Ju restaurant in Lodhi Colony and arrested the restaurant manager Hitesh Prakash (32) along with three other men – Gaurav Singh, Satish Sethi and Vikrant Singh. They were found with 32 oxygen concentrators.

The police on Friday found the accused were “hoarding” oxygen concentrators in two more restaurants in South Delhi’s Khan Market.

#JUSTIN: 96 Oxygen Concentrators recovered from Khan Chacha Restaurant in Khan Market by the @DelhiPolice. @IndianExpress, @ieDelhi pic.twitter.com/UTtgx9XfRN

— Mahender Singh Manral (@mahendermanral) May 7, 2021

Hitesh told the police that his associates stored some of the units at Town Hall and Khan Chacha restaurant. The district police conducted raids and seized 96 oxygen concentrators from Khan Chacha and nine from Town Hall.

During verification, it was found that the owner of all three restaurants is Navneet Kalra, who is yet to be arrested in the case.

Atul Kumar Thakur, DCP (South) said, “We will take legal action against the accused. Kalra’s role in the black marketing case is being verified.”

The four accused have been booked under sections of cheating, Essential Commodities Act, and Epidemic Diseases Act.

The police on Thursday found that the accused operated from a warehouse in Chhatarpur’s Khullar Farms where 387 more machines were kept. Hitesh told the police about the warehouse and said all the equipment was imported and sold to families of Covid-19 patients through online portals for Rs 70,000 each. The police have recovered a total of 524 units.