Supreme Court on Wednesday sentenced to life six persons accused of brutally gunning down 27-year-old Indian Oil official S Manjunath who raised voice against corruption in supply of adulterated petrol in lakhimpur district of UP and whose death sparked a debate on the need to have a whistleblower protection law.
The case was a highlighted instance of what price a crusader against corruption would face after the bullet-riddled body of Manjunath shocked the conscience of the entire country showing how helpless was the justice administration system to protect whistleblowers who expose corruption at high places.
Dealing with the appeals filed by the six persons accused of Manjunath’s murder on November 19, 2005, the bench of Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and NV Ramana had no reason to doubt the story of the prosecution that the pump owner Pawan Kumar Mittal along with his five associates knocked off Manjunath a day after he threatened to report about irregularities in purity of petrol that could have resulted in imposing heavy penalty or suspension of license.
The Court held Mittal along with Devesh Agnihotri, Rakesh Kumar Anand, Shivkesh Giri, Vivek Sharma, and Rajesh Verma guilty under Sections 302, 120B and 201 of the Indian Penal Code and other provisions of the Arms Act, while upholding the life term awarded to them by the lucknow bench of Allahabad High Court.
Being an IIM-lucknow graduate, Manjunath, unlike his peers, refused high-paying cushioned jobs in the corporate sector choosing to settle for a job as sales manager with Indian Oil Corporation. On his first visit to M/s Mittal Automobiles, the pump owned by the accused Pawan Mittal on September 13, 2005, Manjunath discovered large-scale adulteration in fuel supplied at the pump.
The matter was reported to IOC following which supply was suspended till a heavy penalty of Rs75,000 was paid. The supply was restored on October 19, 2005 and a month later Manjunath visited the pump only to find that the sample tested positive for adulteration. He threatened to report the matter to IOC on November 19, 2005 and a day later his body was found near the pump.
“Suspecting the deceased would again give report to IOC alleging irregularities in the supplies, in which event, he would either be called upon to pay fine or may render his licence suspended, Mittal bore grudge and with the assistance of other accused, murdered the deceased,” the bench said.