Manjnath killer gets death | Reactions

New Delhi: The District and Sessions court of Lakhimpur-Kheri in Uttar Pradesh on Monday awarded death sentence to petrol pump owner Pawan Mittal alias Monu, prime accused in the Manjunath murder case.

Delivering the verdict in a packed courtroom, District Judge S M A Abidi said the murder of 27-year-old Manjunath on November 19, 2005 was planned because weapons of different persons residing in different localities were used.

The Court had convicted all the eight accused on Friday for killing the IIM-Lucknow graduate who had exposed a racket in the sale of adulterated fuel.

The death sentence would be subject to confirmation by the High Court.

The other eight accused including, Rakesh Anand, Rajesh Verma and Davesh Agnihotri have been given two years of imprisonment for conspiracy and destruction of evidence.

Reacting to the verdict, friend of Manjunath and head of the Shanmugam trust, Jai Shankar said that he was satisfied with the court’s order and was ready to face challenges in higher courts also.

“The trust is satisfied with the verdict. If they appeal in a higher court, then the trust will counter it,” says Jai Shankar.

However, defence lawyer Vidya Dhar Pande was unhappy with the verdict and accused the court of having no evidence against Monu Mittal.

"We are not happy with the procedure of the investigation. We will go to the High Court and appeal there. There was no proper evidence in the case and I am not happy at all with the way in which the investigation was conducted," Pande said.

Manjunath, a 27-year-old IIM graduate, was working as a sales officer with the Indian Oil Corporation when he was shot dead in November in 2005 for blowing the whistle on adulteration in a petrol pump run by Monu Mittal and his aide Devesh Agnihotri in Lakhimpur-Kheri, Uttar Pradesh.

CASE TIMELINE

IIM grad and IOC sales officer Manjunath was murdered on 19 November, 2005 after he tried to expose petrol adulteration in Lakhimpur-Kheri. The accused included the owner of a petrol pump whom Manjunath had threatened to expose.

His bullet-ridden body was recovered on Nov 20, 2005 in Sitapur district, Uttar Pradesh.

The trial began in February 2006 and charges were framed on May 19, 2006. During the trial, the prosecution presented 23 witnesses, three of whom turned hostile. The verdict was reserved by the trial court on March 9, 2007.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Kamini Jaiswal, who had appeared on behalf of the prosecution, raised the issue of witnesses turning hostile after recording their staements and urged the court to initiate proceedings against them.

The killing had evoked sharp reactions from IIM students across the country and social groups who demanded stern punishment for the guilty.