Former Gunupur MLA Ramamurthy Gomango was on Tuesday awarded life imprisonment for killing his wife Sashirekha.
Hearing a quantum of punishment in the Sashirekha Gomango murder case, a special court of Additional District Judge (ADJ-III) in Bhubaneswar sentenced the convict to life imprisonment under Section 302 of IPC.
Besides, Ramamurthy was slapped with a fine of Rs 50,000, failing to which he will serve one more 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 six-month imprisonment further.
On June 24, the court that deals with MLA and MP cases had convicted Ramamurthy in the murder case.
Based on the statements of 11 witnesses and 15 documents pertaining to the case, he was convicted for brutally killing his five-month pregnant wife in 1995.
The body of Sashirekha was spotted with severe burn injuries at his residence (Qr. No.-DS-18/1) at MLA Colony in Bhubaneswar on August 29, 1995.
Initially, an unnatural death case was registered at the Kharavel Nagar police station, Bhubaneswar, and an investigation was initiated. Subsequently, a probe team converted it to a murder case under Sections 302 (punishment for murder) and 201 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence) of IPC.
Nearly three decades later, the court convicted the accused.