The Kavre District Court has remanded proprietors of four petrol pumps in police custody for further investigatyion into cases related to blackmarketeering and fraud.

After hearings on Wednesday, Friday and Sunday, Judge Anawi Mainali ordered them to be sent to custody for further investigation, said Registrar Hiranya Bhandari.

District Attorney Office had last week filed blackmarketeering cases against Basanta Kishan Poudel and Umesh Baniya, proprietors of Panchkhal Oil Store; Bholanath Gautam and Rajendra Gautam, proprietors of  Mata Palanchok Fuel Centre; Atma Ram Thapa and Baniya of Ugrachandi Oil Store, and Binod Banjara, proprietor of Jaya Ambe Traders. Bholanath Gautam and Baniya are at large.

The DAO has sought a five-year prison term, return of the money their customers were cheated out of and a fine of an equivalent amount—a penalty more severe than a two-year jail term suggested by police.

During an inspection, the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM) had found them cheating customers on the quantity of fuel. The agency confirmed that the stations had dispensed 2-5 percent less fuel to their customers.

As per the charge sheet, Panchkhal Oil Store has been charged with committing fraud worth Rs6.97 million over 13 months; Mata Palanchok Fuel Centre (Rs4.93 million over 15 months); Ugrachandi (Rs3.97 million over eight months); Jaya Ambe (Rs776,800 over 10 months).

Panchkhal had sold 2.02 million litres of diesel and 214,000 litres; Mata Palanchok (1.27 million litres of diesel and 220,000 litres of petrol); Ugrachandi (970,000 litres of diesel and 292,000 litres of petrol); Jaya Ambe (219,000 litres of diesel and 32,000 litres of petrol) over the respective periods. The quantity and value of the fraud was determined based on their transactions.

Proprietor of Narayan Oil Store Ghanashyam Khatri and Thakur Bajgain of Mata Ugrachandi, who are facing similar charges, are at large. Cases have not been registered against them yet. Shree Ram Shrestha, Bimal Shrestha and Saroj Shrestha—proprietors of the Panchakanka Oil Store—who face a case at the District Administration Office are also at large.