Capital, life imprisonment to 8 in Manjunath murder

Lakhimpur Kheri (UP), Mar 26: A local court here today awarded capital punishment to Pawan Kumar alias Monu and life imprisonment to seven others in the sensational murder of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) official S Manjunath.

District judge S M A Adbi pronounced the judgement after he convicted all the eight accused in the murder on March 23.

Monu, the son of the owner of Mittal Automobiles, was awarded capital punishment for his direct involvement in the murder.

The judge pronounced life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 each for the remaining seven convicts-- Rakesh Anand, Vivek Sharma, Devesh Agnihotri, Sanjay Awasthi, Shivkesh Giri, Harish Mishra and Rajesh Verma.

IOC sales officer Manjunath, an alumni of IIM (Lucknow) of 2003 batch, was allegedly killed inside the Mittal Automobile Petrol Pump at Gola Gokarn in Lakhimpur Kheri district on November 19, 2005.

S Manjunath, an IIT-Kanpur graduate, was murdered after he had reportedly threatened to seal Mittal Automobiles at Gola Gokarn in Lakhimpur Kheri district for selling adulterated fuel.

The next day, the police intercepted a vehicle carrying the body of Manjunath in an area, which fell under the Mahauli police station of neighbouring Sitapur district.

The court had on Friday convicted all the eight accused in the murder of Manjunath after finding them guilty under section 302 of the Indian Penal Code. Besides this the accused were also charged under certain section of the IPC including 120(B).

The court, after a long trial, had reserved its judgement on March 9. The prosecution had submitted the chargesheet on February 15, 2006 against eight accused in the murder. The trial started on June 5 Prominent lawyers Kamini Jaiswal and IB Singh argued the case on behalf of the S Manjunath Trust during the murder trial.

Pilibhit-based lawyer VD Pandey pleaded the case on behalf of Monu Mittal. The prosecution presented 23 witnesses before the court and three of them turned hostile.

During the trial, the accused created ruckus several times inside and outside the court.

A countrywide debate was initiated after the murder of the technocrat, and later Manjunath Shanmugam Trust (www.manjunathshanmugamtrust.org) was founded by IIM alumni in February 2006 with the immediate aim of ensuring justice in the Manjunath murder case.

A nationwide protest was also launched with candlelight processions and other agitational programmes for punishment of the culprits involved in the murder.

A native of Karnataka, the IIM-L graduate had joined the IOC in July 2003. In October the same year, he was appointed Area Sales Officer (ASO) of Lakhimpur Kheri.

Meanwhile, heavy security arrangements were made in the court today after a clash between the advocates and mediapersons on March 23.

UNI

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