Oxygen racket: Delhi cops nab woman from Bhagalpur village

BHAGALPUR: A three-member team of cybercrime cell of Delhi Police on Saturday arrested a woman, Sarita Devi (40), after it was found that crores of rupees were transferred to the bank accounts of the woman and her family members by people involved in black marketing of Remdesivir injection and oxygen cylinders during the peak of the second wave of Covid pandemic in the national capital.
The woman, a brick kiln worker, was arrested from Pakki Sarai locality under the Ghogha police station area in Bhagalpur district. She was produced before a Bhagalpur court on Sunday. The court granted transit demand of the woman to the Delhi Police team.
Bhagalpur SSP Natasha Gudia said more than Rs 90 lakh was deposited and withdrawn from Sarita’s bank account and another Rs 44 lakh from the bank account of her sister, Pinki Devi. “Several crores of rupees were transacted through bank accounts of Sarita’s three other relatives,” she added.
Karanveer Singh, investigation officer of Delhi Police team, said the probe began following a complaint lodged by a Delhi resident, who alleged that he had not received oxygen cylinders and Remdesivir from the “agent” despite paying huge money.
“During investigation, we found that huge money was transferred from Delhi to different SBI accounts in Karnataka and Bhagalpur. “Money was mostly withdrawn through ATM cards at various places in Bihar, including Patna,” Singh said, adding the gang running the racket has more than 20 members.
Sarita, on the other hand, told mediapersons that she was lured by one Amit Raushan of Ghogha locality to open bank account for illegal transactions. “He also opened bank accounts of five of my close relatives by collecting related documents and promised to pay us a good amount of money per month,” Sarita said.