BHUBANESWAR: The third Additional Sessions Judge Court-cum-Special Court (MP/MLA), Bhubaneswar, on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to former Gunupur MLA Ram Murty Gomango after he was found guilty of killing his wife in Bhubaneswar in 1995.
The court convicted Gamango in the murder case of his wife Sashirekha and pronounced its judgment after hearing 11 witnesses and examining 15 documents during the trial.
Apart from the sentence of life, the court imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on the convict for committing the offence under section 302 of the IPC. On default, the convict will have to be under rigorous imprisonment (RI) for another year.
He has also been pronounced RI of three years and a fine of Rs 10,000 for committing an offence under IPC section 201. A default in the payment will attract RI for six more months, said public prosecutor Rashmi Ranjan Jena.
The case was initiated way back in 1995, after the half-burnt body of Sashirekha was recovered from the former legislator’s residence at Kharavela Nagar in Bhubaneswar. On August 29, 1995, Gomango had informed the city police that his wife Sashirekha died by suicide inside the bathroom of his quarter in MLA Colony here.
Police registered a case of unnatural death and launched an inquiry into the matter. During the investigation, it was established that Gomango had killed his wife following which a sub-inspector lodged a complaint against the former MLA with Kharavela Nagar police station. The police had then registered an unnatural death case. Later, they converted it into a murder case.