Gurugram, Apr 24 (IANS): A joint team of Chief Ministers flying squad, the Crime Branch and the drugs control department has arrested four persons in Gurugram for selling and illegally possessing nine oxygen cylinders without valid licence.

The investigation found that these cylinders valued at Rs 12,000 to 14,000 apiece were being sold for as high as Rs 90,000 per cylinder in the black market.

The arrested kingpin of the racket has been identified as Bhupender Yadav from Jind. Three of his accomplices -- Rajesh from Mahendergarh, Satyam from Bihar and Dharmender from Rajasthan -- have also been nabbed.

"Following a tip-off about black marketing of oxygen cylinders, we had put up a policeman as a decoy customer, who had contacted the miscreants who asked him to meet them somewhere in Sector 38-39. There the accused persons fixed a deal for a 48 kg cylinder for Rs 90,000. Later the decoy customer signalled to the raiding team which overpowered the three culprits and seized one cylinder and a Maruti Breeza car from the spot," Subhash Boken, spokesperson of the Gurugram police, told IANS.

Boken further said that on their disclosure, the police arrested the kingpin of the gang from Sector 39 and recovered eight oxygen cylinders from his possession.

"During questioning, the accused disclosed before the police that they had established a firm named 'Purani Health Care Solution'. They knew that oxygen was in huge demand due to the Covid crisis. So they started black marketing oxygen cylinders. On Thursday, they had sold one cylinder for Rs 70,000. They used to search the needy people via social media platforms and sold oxygen to Covid patients under home quarantine at exorbitant rates," Boken said.

"We are seeking the ledger details from Yadav regarding the sale and purchase of oxygen cylinders in the past few days. The accused will be booked under the relevant sections of law," the officer said.