ILNS: Delhi Metropolitan Magistrate Akanksha Garg Thursday reserved his order on a plea filed by Delhi Police crime branch, seeking an extension to the 5-day police custody of businessman Navneet Kalra, an accused of hoarding and black marketing oxygen concentrators and other medical equipment amid the Covid pandemic.
Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa, along with Advocate Vineet Malhotra, appeared for the accused, while Additional Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava appeared for Delhi Police.
Magistrate Garg sought the response of Delhi Police on Kalra’s bail application. The APP said he will send the response to the defence in some time. Pahwa submitted that they have received the reply and want some time to study it. “I don’t want to be an impediment in the investigation, I need some time to go through the reply filed by the state on my bail application. In the meantime if the court wants to decide on the police remand application, it can do that.”
Shrivastava submitted: “It is necessary to confront the accused to whom he had sold the defective oxygen concentrators. Huge transactions were done, 23 bank branch involved in this. We have already served the notice to them. These banks accounts are voluminous. We also need to verify the CA of the accused. We have taken him to various places where he kept all these oxygen concentrators. Now he is with the IO.”
Countering to the submissions Senior Advocate Vikas Pahwa submitted “As my learned friend says that mirrored image of the mobile phone is needed, this is work of the FSL, custody is not required for it. For Bank statements the bank will provide that, I am not needed for that.”
Advocate Vineet Malhotra for the accused submitted that on these machines (Oxygen Concentrator) even the government is also allowing the import. Shown the picture of machines purchased by Actor Salman Khan. Same machine. Identical and the number is same. Shown Twitter handle of Salman Khan to the Court.
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Replying to the submissions made by Malhotra, APP Shrivastava submitted “Malhotra Saab has argued that Salman Khan has distributed, Salman Khan has distributed for free. He never said it is sufficient for two man at one time. Govt had liberalised the policy for needy person not for greedy person.”
The Court after hearing the argument reserved its order for 6:30PM on Thursday.