Delhi HC refuses to restore stay in Gambhir drug case

The Delhi High Court on Monday refused to restore an interim stay on trial court proceedings against Indian cricket team head coach Gautam Gambhir, his Gautam Gambhir Foundation and several family members accused of illegally stocking and distributing COVID-19 drugs during the pandemic, and listed the matter for further consideration on August 29. The foundation and its trustees, including Gambhir, his wife Natasha Gambhir, his mother Seema Gambhir, and CEO Aprajita Singh, have sought quashing of a criminal complaint filed by the Delhi Drug Control Department stemming from a May 2021 medical camp in east Delhi.

At the hearing, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, representing Gambhir and the foundation, asked the high court to restore the stay because the trial court is scheduled to take up the matter on September 8 and could summon Gambhir's wife and elderly mother if protection was not granted. Dehadrai told the court that Gambhir, a former Member of Parliament and cricketer, had delivered medicines and oxygen during a public health emergency when the city health system was overwhelmed, and that the distributions were charitable rather than commercial.