Supreme Court convicted Gandaki Province lawmaker and former minister Deepak Manange, alias Rajiv Gurung, on charge of attempted murder.

A division bench of Supreme Court Justices Nahakul Subedi and Tek Prasad Dhungana found Manange guilty of the offence. According to Achyut Kuinkel, spokesperson at the top court, the Patan High Court had previously ruled Manange guilty in the attempted murder case, a decision which he had appealed to the Supreme Court.

He said that the Supreme Court rejected Manange’s appeal, thus upholding the initial verdict. The Patan High Court had previously sentenced Manange to five years in prison.

Manange, elected independently from Manang in both the 2017 and 2022 elections, had leveraged political shifts within the provincial assembly to secure ministerial roles on multiple occasions. However, a few months ago, he had expressed disdain towards ministerial responsibilities, even criticising the political system.

The case, now concluded, originates from a 2004 incident in which Manange, known to have a criminal background, attacked another gang leader, Milan Gurung (alias Milan Chakre), with a sword, resulting in serious injury to Gurung’s hand.

Following this incident, the police had filed a murder case against Manange’s group in the Kathmandu District Court. However, the court had reduced the charge to assault, sentencing Manange to two years in prison.

Following the district court’s decision, the District Attorney’s Office appealed to the Patan High Court, which subsequently reversed the district court’s verdict, upholding the attempted murder charge and increasing Manange’s sentence to five years. This led to his period of absconding.

Manange was imprisoned in April 2018 but had by then already secured a seat in the Gandaki Provincial Assembly, representing Manang-2. Having served two years of his sentence, he now faces a further three years of imprisonment. In the 2022 elections, Manange was once again elected to the Gandaki Provincial Assembly from Manang.