SC upholds decision convicting Manange of attempted murder; Rabi Lamichhane remanded in custody for 10 more days

Kathmandu / Nov 5: The Supreme Court (SC) on Tuesday decided to uphold the verdict of the erstwhile Patan Appellate Court convicting Member of Gandaki Provincial Assembly Rajiv Gurung, better known as Deepak Manange, of attempted murder. With the verdict, Gurung will be stripped of his position as an elected member of the provincial assembly and serve the remaining 26 months of his five-year jail term.

A joint bench of SC justices Nahakul Subedi and Tek Prasad Dhungana upheld the verdict of the erstwhile Appellate Court (now High Court) of Patan which slapped Gurung with a five-year jail term for the attempted murder of gangster Milan Gurung, popularly known as Chakre Milan. The Supreme Court is yet to issue the full text of the verdict.

Gurung, who won the 2017 election from Manang (B) as an independent candidate, has already spent 32 months in prison in the case. After the verdict of the Supreme Court, he will have to spend 26 months in jail. Gurung has held multiple ministerial positions in the Gandaki provincial government.

Rabi Lamichhane, four others remanded in custody for 10 more days

The Kaski District Court on Tuesday remanded Rashtriya Swatantra Party (RSP) Chairperson and former Home Minister Rabi Lamichhane in custody for 10 more days for further investigation on charges of cooperative fund embezzlement and organised crime.

It is the third time that the court has given permission to the police to keep Lamichhane in custody.

Earlier, the court was remanded Lamichhane in custody for seven more days on October 24.

Information Officer of the district court Suraj Adhikari informed that a bench of justice Chandrakanta Paudel remanded Lamichhane, Gorkha Media’s former vice chair Chhabilal Joshi, Leela Pachhai and RamBahadur Khanal for 10 days.

Lamichhane was arrested by a team of the Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) from his party office in Kathmandu on October 18.

Lamichhane, along with several other individuals, is accused of being involved in misappropriating funds from the Pokhara-based Suryadarshan Savings and Credit Cooperative. The arrest followed a parliamentary probe which linked him and others to the embezzlement of millions of rupees from the cooperative.