Former Gunupur MLA Ramamurthy Gomango was sentenced to life imprisonment on Tuesday by the Special Judge Court Bhubaneswar in connection with the murder of his pregnant wife in 1995.

The judgment came after 28 years of legal fight and police investigation. Besides, he was slapped with a Rs 50,000 fine failing which he will serve one year in prison. The court examined 11 witnesses and recorded their statements before pronouncing the judgment.

Gunupur Assembly constituency comes under the Raygada district in southern Odisha.

Gomango was present in the courtroom while the judge pronounced the judgment. Gomango’s wife Sashirekha’s half-burnt dead body was found in the bathroom of his quarter in MLA colony in Bhubaneswar on September 28, 1995. Sashirekha was pregnant at that time.

However, police termed it an unnatural death and registered a case. Though he was arrested in the case, but was released on bail after two months.

After public pressure mounted, police changed the course of the investigation and registered a case under sections 302 (murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC.

Gomango had earlier feigned ignorance and continued to maintain that he was not at the quarter when the incident took place. He insisted that his wife had committed suicide by pouring kerosene on her. However, police collected the shreds of evidence and proceeded with the investigation. The post-mortem report also revealed that there was a head injury.

Gomango was elected to the Assembly on the Janata Dal ticket in 1990. Later he was elected to the Assembly in 2000 on a BJP ticket. But he lost to the Congress in the 2004 poll.

Tainted officer

The state government on Tuesday ordered the compulsory retirement of additional sub-collector of Nabarangpur district, Prasanta Kumar Rout, who was held on charges of possessing disproportionate assets worth Rs 5 crore, an official said, adds PTI.