Deepak Manange, the Provincial Assembly member of Gandaki from Manang-B, will join the ruling CPN.
Manange, real name Rajeev Gurung, will be welcomed to the party by Chief Minister (CM) of Gandaki and the party's incharge in the province Prithvi Subba Gurung.
Manange, who had fought the election as an independent candidate after furor over reports about the then CPN-UML giving him the ticket, won with support of UML after the party's candidate withdrew candidacy apparently to facilitate Manange's win.
CM Gurung's personal secretary Jagadish Nath Yogi confirmed that the only independent lawmaker in the province will join CPN. CPN will have 39 members in the provincial assembly after Manange joins the party.
"We are opting for cooperation due to shared principles," Manange, who is member of the Finance and Development Committee of the provincial assembly, told journalists on Wednesday. "I am not joining with any demand though."
Manange was sworn in as provincial lawmaker on January 28 over 16 months after winning the election.
Manange, who was serving a five-year sentence in an attempt to murder case, applied at the office of speaker in the province on December 27, 2018 after being released on bail by the Supreme Court (SC) administration on December 21.
Manange was released from Dilli Bazar Jail on December 21 after the SC administration ordered his release on bail of Rs 27,375.
"Persons who are serving sentence of less than 10 years get the facility of bail while appealing the court verdict. The court administration provides the facility. He has been released according to the facility provided by the law," Communication Expert with the SC Kishore Paudel had told Setopati.
Manange, real name Rajeev Gurung, had applied for bail with the SC administration as per the facility after getting permission to appeal the Patan Appellate Court verdict.
Manange, who was elected as an independent candidate from Manang-B with support of the then CPN-UML, had gone into hiding after a five-year sentence slapped by the Patan Appellate Court on him six years ago for attempted murder was revealed at the Supreme Court (SC) on January 16.
Interpol had issued the red corner notice on initiative of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) of Nepal Police putting police in 192 member states after him. He was arrested on April 19 from Tindhara, Swoyambhu in Kathmandu.
He was kept at the Dilli Bazar Jail since April 20.
The Patan Appellate Court in 2013 had sentenced Manange for five years in an attempt to murder case for the attack on another gangster Chakre Milan in 2005. The Patan Appellate Court had given clean chit to co-accused Ganesh Lama, Umesh Lama, Rewat Karki and Ramesh Sunuwar. Public prosecutors then moved the SC against the clean chit given to the four co-accused demanding punishment against them.
But the sentence against Manange was not enforced and he became provincial legislator of Province 4 winning the provincial election from Manang-B.
The unimplemented guilty verdict against Manange came to the fore only on January 16 when an advocate reached the SC bench of Deepak Raj Joshi and Purushottam Bhandari—that was hearing the case filed by the public prosecutors demanding punishment against the four acquitted by the Patan Appellate Court—pleading that his client Manange did not know about the verdict, consequently was not aware of the expiry of deadline of appeal, and hence could not appeal against the guilty verdict.
“You are not defendant on this case. The Patan Appellate Court’s verdict will be final for you,” the bench had told the lawyer.
