Bhubaneswar: A special court here Tuesday awarded life imprisonment to former Gunupur MLA, Ramamurthy Gomango, for killing his five-month pregnant wife in 1995.
Hearing a quantum of punishment in the murder case of Gomango’s wife Sashirekha, a special court of Additional District Judge (ADJ-III) in Bhubaneswar Tuesday sentenced the convict to life imprisonment under section 302 of IPC.
Public prosecutor Rashmi Ranjan Brahma said the judge who had heard the case had convicted the former legislator in the murder case June 24 and pronounced the quantum of punishment on Tuesday. The court sentenced the former MLA to life imprisonment under section 302 of IPC, he said.
He was slapped with Rs 50,000 fine, failing to which he will serve one year in jail. The court also imposed Rs 10,000 fine on him under section 201 of IPC. If the convict fails to pay the penalty amount, he will have to undergo another six-month imprisonment, Brahma said.
The court pronounced the judgement after examining the statements of 11 witnesses and 15 documents pertaining to the murder case.
The public prosecutor told reporters that he requested the court for lifer as this was a rarest of rare case in which a five months pregnant lady was burnt alive by her husband who tried to destroy the evidence stating that his wife had committed suicide.
Half-burnt body of Gomango’s wife Sashirekha was found at the MLA’s official quarter in MLA colony in Bhubaneswar August 29, 1995. Initially, an unnatural death case was registered at the Kharavel Nagar Police Station in Bhubaneswar. Subsequently, during investigation, the police converted it to a murder case under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
IANS