Fugitive provincial assembly member Deepak Manange, who had an Interpol red corner notice issued against him, has been arrested from Kathmandu on Thursday.
Chief of Kathmandu Police SSP Bishwo Raj Pokharel said Manange, real name Rajeev Gurung, was arrested from Tindhara, Swoyambhu Thursday evening. SSP Pokharel told Setopati that he will be handed over to the Kathmandu District Court on Friday for implementation of court verdict.
Manange, who was elected as an independent candidate from Manang-B with support of CPN-UML, had gone into hiding after a five-year sentence slapped by the Patan Appellate Court on Manange five 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.
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 recent 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 told the lawyer. The SC endorsed the Patan Appellate Court's verdict giving clean chit to the four co-accused but has told Manange's lawyer that the 70-day deadline, that is given to every accused to appeal court verdict, has already expired.
Case History
A gang led by Manange had attacked Chakre Milan with sword in 2005. Milan's hand was chopped into two pieces and was later stitched together. Milan's wife Indira Gandhi filed an attempted murder case against Manange and others in the Kathmandu District Court.
The Kathmandu District Court deemed it to be a case of affray and slapped a two-year sentence on a few. Public prosecutors then moved the Patan Appellate Court against the verdict demanding greater sentence against the accused arguing it was an attempted murder case.
The Patan Appellate Court in 2013 found Manange guilty of attempted murder and sentenced him for five years while giving clean chit to the four co-accused. Public prosecutors were satisfied with the verdict against Manange and moved the SC in 2014 only against the acquitted four.
