The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday upheld the Patan Appellate Court’s decision to imprison Rajib Gurung aka Deepak Manange in attempted murder conviction.

 Manange, who was recently elected as an independent candidate to a provincial assembly seat from Manang district, has had several run-ins with the law on numerous criminal charges in the past.

The Tuesday’s SC ruling is related to a gang war that took place 13 years ago in the Capital, in which Manange and his men had attacked the rival gang leader Milan Gurung aka Chakre and his lackeys.

A joint bench of Justice Deepak Raj Joshi and Justice Purushottam Bhandari upheld the verdict handed down by the Patan Appellate Court in 2013, overturning the ruling of the Kathmandu District Court in the case.

The Kathmandu District Court had ruled out the attempted murder charge and ordered a two-year jail sentence to Manange in aggravated assault conviction. The court had also acquitted four of Manange’s accomplices, including gangster turned politician Ganesh Lama.

Dissatisfied by the court’s ruling, the government lawyers had knocked the door of the Patan Appellate Court, seeking punishment against the defendants.

The Patan Appellate Court in 2012 ruled the incident as an attempted murder case and ordered five years jail sentence to Manange, but upheld the Kathmandu District Court’s decision to acquit Manange’s four accomplices.  

The Attorney General’s Office in May 2013 had moved the SC, seeking punishment to four of Manange’s accomplices as well.

Nearly five years after the case was registered for a review of judgment, the SC on Tuesday decided to uphold the ruling of the Patan Appellate Court. With the SC ruling, Manange will have to go back to prison.

He also have to give up his provincial assembly seat since a convicted criminal cannot become a parliamentarian, according to the apex court.