Former Gunupur MLA Ramurty Gomango died Friday morning at SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack. He was 76 and had been suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes.
Doctors admitted him to AIIMS Bhubaneswar two days ago after his health deteriorated, and later shifted him to SCB Hospital, where he died around 3 am.
Gomango represented the Gunupur Assembly constituency twice. He served as a Janata Dal legislator from 1990 to 1995 and later as a BJP MLA during the BJD-BJP alliance from 2000 to 2005.
His political career was overshadowed by a sensational murder case. In 1995, his wife Shashirekha’s half-burnt body was recovered from the bathroom of their residence. She was pregnant at the time. Gomango claimed she committed suicide and alleged political rivals framed him. Police initially registered the case as an unnatural death but later converted it into a murder case under IPC Sections 302 and 201.
The trial stretched for 28 years. Eleven witnesses and circumstantial evidence built the case against him. On June 27, 2023, a Special Court in Bhubaneswar convicted Gomango of murdering his wife and destroying evidence. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000, with an additional year of rigorous imprisonment in case of default.
