Manjunath case shifted to other bench, next hearing on Apr 21

Lucknow, Mar 12 (UNI) The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court today transferred the high-profile Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) marketing officer Manjunath murder case to another bench and ordered submission of the related documents before the Chief Justice.

The order was passed by a bench comprising Justices Abdul Mateen and M K Mittal.

Posting the case for the next hearing on April 21, the court ordered submission of the related documents before Chief Justice so that he could decide the bench which would take over the case.

Manjunath's bullet riddled body was found in the nearby Sitapur district on November 19, 2005.

The Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow (IIM-L) alumni was an upright government servant and had taken a tough stand against adulteration of fuel at some petrol outlets in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Prime accused Pawan Mittal alias Monu had already been awarded death sentence by a sessions court, while other accused Devesh Agnihotri, Sanjay Awasthi, Rakesh Anand, Shivkesh alias Lalla, Harish Mishra, Vivek Sharma and Rajesh Verma. had been sentenced to life.

Several witnesses had already turned hostile in the case.

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