Three booked in Patna for selling oxygen cylinder at a premium

Police also seized an auto-rickshaw-cum-luggage carrier carrying seven jumbo cylinders, two small-filled cylinders, many regulators and a motorcycle from the spot

The Economic Offence Wing (EOW) of Bihar Police has booked three people, including a director of a private nursing home, for selling oxygen cylinders at a premium. There has been a huge demand for medical oxygen amid a spike in Covid-19 cases across the country.

Representational Image. (File photo)

Police also seized an auto-rickshaw-cum-luggage carrier carrying seven jumbo cylinders, two small-filled cylinders, many regulators and a motorcycle from the spot.

Police got a tip-off about a private hospital selling each jumbo cylinder (50 litres) for ₹50,000. They arrested Mohammad Abdul Wafa, a residence of Sakur Colony in Patna, and also recovered a jumbo cylinder from his residence.

Wafa is the director of Unique Hospital, and is the son of Mohammad Abdullah, the district board member from Katra, Muzaffarpur. He was wanted in a case lodged with Hathauri police station in Muzaffarpur.

Wafa’s arrest led to his two accomplices: Dhupendra Kumar Ram of rural Patna, and Raju Kumar Das of Kishanganj.

Elsewhere, the EOW team along with Delhi Police arrested two persons -- Kamta Singh and Kamlesh Paswan --from rural Patna for cyber fraud in the name of oxygen cylinder.

Till date, the EOW has registered six FIRs in Patna and arrested 27 persons, including two directors of separate private hospitals, over Covid-related cheating. In all, the wing has recovered 67 jumbo cylinders, fifty regulators, and eight Remdesivir injections from them.

The Bihar police headquarters claimed that they raided over 300 places across the state, lodged 14 FIRs, arrested 30 persons and recovered around 400 oxygen cylinders.