Spending 6-months in jail seem to have no effect on Atmaram Thapa as he was back to his crooked old ways in no time. The operator of The Modern Amenity Suppliers and Ugrachandi Oil Store was previously jailed for tampering with their pumps and he was caught red-handed doing the same thing again.

In a monitoring programme by the Nepal Bureau of Standards and Metrology (NBSM), it discovered that pumps of the aforementioned operator were supplying low levels of oil. Authorities have since sealed two nozzles in each pump.

The NBSM along with other assisting institutions had carried out a monitoring and inspection programme for six petrol pumps in the district, on Saturday.

According to quality inspector Bhuwan Dawadi of NBSM, measuring 10 litres of diesel from the pump in Ugrahandi Oil Store resulted in 330 ml less, while 10 litres of petrol resulted in 70 ml less. The results were similar at The Modern Amenity Suppliers, with 50-60 ml short on each inspection of 10 litres.

NBSM allows leniency till 15 ml for 5 litre inspections and 25 ml on 10 litre inspections. However, the two pumps, Ugrahandi Oil Store and The Modern Amenity Suppliers, were blatantly violating regulations and had their pumps sealed.

“We begin prosecution in court on the basis of reports submitted by the monitoring teams. Same will happen to these pumps,” said NBSM’s director-general, Bishwababu Pudasaini, “Some of these people never improve despite many prosecutions.”

The operator of the two pumps, Atmaran Thapa, had previously been jailed because for black marketing and tampering with oil levels. Last year, the petrol pumps had received ‘immunity’ from DSP Rajkumar KC and NBSM’s then district chief, Yogendra Poudel after replacing their pumps, thus avoiding prosecution. This year though, pumps were given no such leeway and were caught.

Bhagwati Oil Store had been conning its customers by merging using a double gear system. It was only after an official lawsuit was filed against the pump that the owners changed.

For this year’s inspection, however, owners of petrol pumps, namely Niranjan Timilsina, Binod Dhimal, Krishna Upreti, Raju Shrestha and Rajan Parajuli were apprehended by the police. These petrol pump operators were discussing device tampering at Bahrabise Sherap Enterprises when they were caught.

Previously, DSP KC had assisted Panchkumari Oil Store to change their devices during the night by building a car-wall outside the oil store from 1 am till 3. KC had also assisted The Modern Amenity Suppliers to change their pumps just before inspection.

In the nearby Narayan Oil Store, the process of changing the device was not so smooth sailing as one of the two policemen who were assisting started complaining about how the bribery was not enough. The disgruntled police officer blew the lid on the shady operations, attracting the District Police Headquarters attention the very next day.

The headquarters is now starting an investigation into the infamous DSP, Rajkumar KC.