Deepak Manange sworn-in as provincial assembly member (with video)

Published On: January 28, 2019 06:48 PM NPT By: Republica | @RepublicaNepal

Photo courtesy: Umesh Pun

KATHMANDU, Jan 28: Rajiv Gurung aka Deepak Manange, who was elected a provincial assembly member of Province 4 from Manang (B) as an independent candidate, administered oath of office and secrecy in Pokhara on Monday.

Amid a function, Speaker of the Gandaki Provincial Assembly Netranath Adhikari administered oath of office and secrecy to gangster-turned provincial assembly member-elect Gurung.

Manange, who was sentenced by the then Appellate Court, Patan to five years in jail on the charge of attempted murder, released from jail following a Supreme Court order in December last year.

He appealed to be allowed to fight the case from outside prison, arguing that the appellate court had sentenced him on the basis of a court notice that wasn’t served on him properly.

The court had published a notice in the Gorkhapatra daily, stating that court officials couldn’t locate his address in his home district of Manang. In his appeal at the Supreme Court against the appellate court verdict, he claimed that he didn’t know about the publication of the newspaper notice. He said he wasn’t sought out at his then address in Kathmandu-16 before publishing the newspaper notice.

An earlier appeal by him to the apex court was rejected in January by a joint-registrar of the court.

But he filed an application again, and Justice Bam Kumar Shrestha not only accepted the application but also ordered that he should be allowed to keep fighting his case from outside jail.

In December last year, Gurung was released from Dillibazar Jail after depositing Rs 27,375 in bail as demanded by the Supreme Court.

Gurung, who was on the run during the provincial assembly election, was not allowed taking his oath because of his court conviction. Police arrested him from Swayambhu on April 20 last year and sent him to prison.

The notorious gangster was convicted for involvement in ripping apart the right hand of another gangster, Chakre Milan, in 2005. A case of attempted murder was filed against him at Kathmandu District Court shortly after the incident. In appeal hearings in 2013, the Appellate Court Patan slapped a five-year jail sentence on him.