KATHMANDU, July 4: Rajiv Gurung alias Dipak Manange, a provincial assembly member of Gandaki Province, joined the ruling Nepal Communist Party.
Amid a function held in Pokhara, chief minister of Gandaki Province Prithvi Subba Gurung welcomed Gurung to the party on Thursday morning. On the occasion, Pushpa Karki, a leader of the outlawed Chand-led group, also joined the ruling NCP.
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CM Gurung also handed over the party's statute to Gurung. In January this year, Manange, who was elected a provincial assembly member of Province 4 from Manang (B) as an independent candidate, took the oath of office and secrecy in Pokhara.
The gangster-turned provincial assembly member Manange was sentenced by the then Appellate Court, Patan to five years in jail on the charge of attempted murder, released from jail following a Supreme Court order in December last year. Gurung was released from Dillibazar Jail after depositing Rs 27,375 in bail as demanded by the Supreme Court.
Police arrested him from Swayambhu on April 20, 2018, and sent him to prison. The notorious gangster was convicted for involvement in ripping apart the right hand of another gangster, Chakre Milan, in 2005. A case of attempted murder was filed against him at Kathmandu District Court shortly after the incident. In appeal hearings in 2013, the Appellate Court Patan slapped a five-year jail sentence on him.
