NEW DELHI: Arrested businessman Navneet Kalra on Friday submitted before a court here that he had no criminal intent to cheat people and cannot be kept in pre-trial detention in the oxygen concentrator blackmarketing case.
Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Arun Kumar Garg was hearing the bail application of the businessman who was arrested on May 17 for allegedly hoarding oxygen concentrators and selling them at exorbitant price. Kalra, through senior advocate Vikas Pahwa, told the court, “I had no criminal intent to cheat anyone. The government has benefited from my sales, they got GST. I paid the income tax.” The lawyer added, “My invoices and oxygen concentrators are with them (the police). No more recoveries are to be made against me. I cannot be put in pre-trial detention.” Further, Advocate Pahwa said that his client traded the oxygen concentrators at a lower price than other online portals and sold them to merely help family and friends.
The lawyer also sought bail on the grounds of parity as five co-accused in the case have already been enlarged on bail. He further refuted the allegations of hoarding of the concentrators.
On the allegation of poor working capacity of the concentrators, he said, “If it was substandard, why did Delhi police give it to Covid centres. This is a clear cut case of making somebody a scapegoat.”
Pahwa also added that Bollywood actor Salman Khan also purchased the same concentrators.
With agency inputs