Deepak Manange | |
|---|---|
| दीपक मनाङे | |
| Minister for youth and sports of Gandaki Province | |
| Assumed office 12 June 2021 | |
| Governor | |
| Chief Minister | Krishna Chandra Nepali Pokharel |
| Province Assembly Member of Gandaki Province | |
| Assumed office 2017 | |
| Preceded by | N/A |
| Constituency | Manang 1(B) |
| Personal details | |
| Citizenship | Nepali |
| Political party | CPN (Unified Socialist)[1] |
| Profession | Politician, businessman, gangster |
Rajiv Gurung, known by his alias Deepak Manange (Nepali: दीपक मनाङे),[2] is a Nepali gangster[3] and politician, who was elected to Gandaki Provincial Assembly in the 2017 elections from Manang (B) constituency as an independent candidate. He became the minister of sports in the provincial government in April 2021.
Gurung started out as an extortionist in the tourist district of Thamel in the early 1990s. He made an arch-enemy out of fellow gangster Chakre Milan when he led a gang attack against Milan in 2004. He was convicted of assault in 2008 for a separate incident and sentenced to one year. In 2013, he was convicted of attempted murder for the 2004 incident and sentenced to five years. He had yet to complete his sentence when he ran for office in 2017, and was therefore legally ineligible to stand in the election. He was on the run in early 2018 but was arrested by April. The Supreme Court released him on bail in December and he took his oath of office in January 2019. He was arrested again in January 2020 after assaulting a fellow attendee of a public function.