Bhubaneswar: Former MLA from Gunupur constituency in Odisha’s Rayagada district, Ramamurthy Gomango, breathed his last in the early hours of Friday while undergoing treatment at a hospital in Cuttack. He was 75.
According to sources, Gomango had been battling high blood pressure and diabetes for some time. His condition worsened recently, leading to his admission at AIIMS Bhubaneswar a couple of days ago. He was later shifted to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack for further care, where he ultimately succumbed.
A veteran politician from the tribal-dominated region, Gomango made a significant mark in Odisha politics. He began his career in the banking sector before being inspired by the vision of late Biju Patnaik to enter active politics. Breaking the long-standing Congress dominance in Gunupur, he won the 1990 Assembly elections on a Janata Dal ticket under Patnaik’s leadership.
He later aligned with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and secured victory in the 2000 Assembly polls during the BJD-BJP alliance. Notably, Gomango remains the first and only BJP candidate to have won from the Gunupur seat. However, in 2004, he lost to his nearest Congress rival, Hema Gamang. During his tenure as MLA, he oversaw key developmental initiatives in the constituency, including the completion and inauguration of the Gunupur bridge by Biju Patnaik himself.
Gomango’s political journey, however, was overshadowed by a major personal controversy. In 1995, his pregnant wife, Sashirekha Gomango, was found dead with severe burn injuries in the bathroom of their official residence in Bhubaneswar’s MLA colony. What was initially reported as an unnatural death or suicide was later investigated as a murder case.
Nearly three decades later, in June 2023, a special court in Bhubaneswar convicted him of murder and destruction of evidence, sentencing him to life imprisonment. The Orissa High Court upheld the conviction and sentence in October 2024.
