All 8 accused held guilty in Manjunath murder case

PTI - The Navhind Times

Lakhimpur-Kheri (UP), March 23 Sixteen months after the sensational killing of Indian Oil sales manager, S Manjunath, a district court today convicted all the eight accused for murdering the whistle-blower who exposed a racket in selling of adulterated fuel.

Pronouncing the verdict in a packed court room, district judge, Mr S M A Abidi said that he has reached the conclusion that all the eight were guilty in the murder of the IIM-Lucknow graduate on November 19, 2005.

They were convicted under sections 302 (murder), 120 B (criminal conspiracy) and 201 (destruction of evidence) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Arms Act.

On the plea of the defence counsel that time was needed to prepare their submission, Abidi fixed on Monday for hearing of arguments on the quantum of punishment.

Manjunath was shot dead at a petrol pump in Gola area in this district after he threatened to cancel the licence of petrol pump owner Pawan Mittal for selling adulterated fuel.

Besides Mittal, the others convicted were Devesh Agnihotri, Sanjay Awasthi, Rakesh Anand, Shivkesh Giri, Rajesh Verma, Harish Mishra and Vivek Sharma. They were present in the courtroom when the verdict was pronounced. While Harish Mishra had earlier been enlarged on bail, the rest were in the jail.

The killing of Manjunath had evoked sharp reaction from the industry, IIM students and alumni and several social organisations, which had demanded stern punishment to the guilty. Earlier, media personnel had to face the ire of the defence lawyers and several of them were forcibly pushed out of the courtroom as soon as the judge came in to deliver the verdict.

Even after the judgment was pronounced, the convicts and a section of the lawyers raised slogans against the large contingent of print and electronic media persons.

Some of the convicts even tried to break the police cordon and move towards the media people while being escorted back to the waiting police van for being transported to the jail but were thwarted by the security personnel.

A day after the murder, Manjunath’s body was recovered from a car in Maholi area in the neighbouring Sitapur district. Rakesh Anand and Vivek Sharma, who had gone to Sitapur to dispose of the body, were caught there.

The police filed the chargesheet in the case on February 15, last year and the trial began on March 9. Charges under the IPC and the Arms Act were framed on May 19 and the examination of the witnesses began from June 5.

As many as 23 witnesses were examined during the trial of whom three turned hostile after having giving their statements to the police.

The court had on March 9, last reserved its judgment after the counsel for the prosecution and defence submitted rulings of the Supreme Court and High Courts to buttress their contention.