Former Odisha MLA Ramamurthy Gomango Sentenced To Life Imprisonment

Bhubaneswar: A local court in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday sentenced former Gunupur MLA Ramamurthy Gomango to life imprisonment for murder of his wife.

Announcing the punishment for the crime, the special court of additional district judge (ADJ-III) sentenced Gomango to life imprisonment under Section 302 of IPC. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000. On failing to pay the fine, he will have to serve one more year in jail.

The court also imposed Rs 10,000 fine on Gomango under Section 201 of IPC and ordered six-month imprisonment if he failed to pay the fine.

The court had convicted Gomango in the case on June 24 after hearing the statements of 11 witnesses and 15 documents. He was also found guilty of destroying evidence under IPC Section 201.

As per the case, the half-burnt body of Gomango’s wife Sashirekha was recovered from the bathroom of his quarters in MLA Colony at Kharvela Nagar in Bhubaneswar on August 29, 1995. She was reportedly four-month pregnant then.

Initially, a case of unnatural death was registered as Gomango told police that she had committed suicide but the investigation later established that the former MLA had killed his wife following which a sub-inspector lodged a complaint against him at Kharavela Nagar police station.

Gomango, who was elected on Janata Dal ticket to the Assembly from Gunupur constituency in 1995, joined the BJP in 2000. He was re-elected from the seat in 2000 on BJP ticket. But he lost to his Congress rival Hema Gomango in 2004 Assembly election. He quit the BJP shortly after the BJD snapped ties with the saffron party in 2009. But he was back in the BJP after being denied a BJD ticket to contest for Gunupur Assembly seat in 2014.