Supreme Court sentences five-year jail term to Deepak Manange

GANESH LAMA AND ACCOMPLICE GET CLEAN CHIT

KATHMANDU, Jan 16: The Supreme Court on Tuesday has sentenced a five-year jail term to the newly elected Province Assembly member Deepak Manange aka Rajeev Gurung on murder charge upholding the then Patan Appellate’s verdict.

A joint bench of Justices Deepak Raj Joshi and Purushottam Bhandari issued the verdict.

The Office of the District Attorney had lodged a case in the Kathmandu District Court over the issue of attacking Milan Chakre with Khukuri by the gang members of Dipak Manange in May 2004. Police had filed a murder case on Manange and his accomplice Ganesh Lama, Rewat Karki, Ramesh Sunuwar and Umesh Lama.

The Kathmandu District Court ruling out that it was a murder case had issued a verdict sentencing two years of imprisonment to Manange while it had given a clean chit to Ganesh Lama, Rewat Karki, Ramesh Sunuwar and Umesh Lama.

Later on, the District Attorney Office had challenged the District Court’s verdict in the Patan Appellate Court. The Patan Appellate Court had sentenced five years jail term to Manange while the verdict of the district court to give clean chit to four others was upheld.

The Office of the Attorney General had also lodged the case in the SC demanding jail term to four others of the Manange gang. But the SC upheld the Patan Appellate Court’s verdict.

According to Joint Attorney General Sanjeev Raj Regmi , an appeal was not made in the name of Manange in the Supreme Court. Though the SC upheld the verdict of the Patan Appellate Court, it has not mentioned anything about the issue of Manange.

Manange, who contested the election as an independent candidate, won the province assembly election from Manang-1 (B). But, with the SC’s verdict, he is suspended from the post before taking oath.