Police on Tuesday arrested the operators of the branded apparel stores on Durbarmarg who were accused of overcharging customers for failure to appear to attend inquiries and produce documents.

According to the Metropolitan Police Range, Teku, eight of the 11 store proprietors have been detained and are being interrogated.

The shop owners who have been taken into custody are Rajeshwor Shrestha of Watch and See, Nandan Bihani of Tirupati, Jitendra Maharjan and Subash Maharjan of Level Store and Roshan Odari of Adventure Outdoor. 

Similarly, Shree Krishna Maharjan of Life Style, Uttam Kumar Basnet of Avenue Marketing, Prabin Jha of Platinum Trade Concern and Tulsidhar Bhandari of Bentley are among the detained.

These sellers of products from international brands like Nike, Reebok, Puma, Bentley and Levis came under government scrutiny following a raid by officials of the Department of Supplies Management (DoSM) who accused them of charging prices up to 2,300 percent higher than the cost price. 

The department has handed over the cases to the Metropolitan Police Range and recommended that action be taken against the owners on black marketing charges. 

The police launched an investigation on October 7. 

Ram Dutta Joshi, spokesperson for the Metropolitan Police Range, confirmed that eight of the accused traders had been arrested. 

According to him, they had disregarded summons to attend inquiries. 

“We have started collecting their statements,” Joshi said. “If they are found to have broken any law, we will begin legal proceedings under the Black Marketing and Some Other Social Offences and Punishment Act at the District Administration Office, Kathmandu.” 

Joshi said that the traders and their officials were being kept in a cell under the police range. 

“The police will soon arrest the other traders who have not come to the station as instructed so that the investigation can proceed,” he said.