HC Breather For Former Odisha MLA Convicted In Wife’s Murder & Sentenced To Life

Cuttack: The Orissa High Court on Thursday granted bail to former Gunupur MLA Ramamurthy Gomango, serving life term for the murder of his pregnant wife in 1995.

Nearly 28 years after his wife’s death, a special court in Bhubaneswar had convicted Gomango for murder and destruction of evidence after hearing the statements of 11 witnesses and 15 documents. He was sentence to life imprisonment on June 27.

Gomango had then moved to the High Court, challenging the order.

Notably, half-burnt body of Gamango’s wife, Sashirekha, was recovered from the bathroom of the former legislator’s quarters in the MLA colony 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 he was not at the quarters when the incident took place and insisted that his wife had committed suicide by pouring kerosene on her. The investigation later established that the former MLA had killed his wife as the postmortem report also revealed that there was a head injury. 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.