Manjunath Case: Supreme Court upholds life terms for six accused

NEW DELHI: Almost a decade after Manjunath Shanmugam, a young Indian Oil Corporation official, was shot dead in Uttar Pradesh for cracking down on petrol pilferage and adulteration at a retail outlet, the Supreme Court on Wednesday handed life terms to six people accused of killing him.

A top court bench, comprising Justices SJ Mukhopadhaya and NV Ramana, dismissed the appeals of the accused. The high court had dismissed their pleas on February 11, 2009.

Shanmugam, an Indian Institute of Management graduate, was only 27 when he was killed in November 2005. The prosecution claimed the owner of the petrol pump, whose licence Shanmugam had threatened to cancel, and five associates killed the IOC official.

His death created a public furore, with his parents and IIM alumni protesting and demanding justice. The state also urged exemplary punishment for the accused, saying he was targeted for honestly carrying out his duties and his death would deter others from working in the state.

Shanmugam worked as a sales officer with IOC at Gola in Lakhimpur Khera district. He found irregularities in the working of the petrol pump and suspended sales and supplies to the outlet, which were later restored on payment of a fine of 75,000. Soon after another inspection, a police patrol stumbled upon the accused with his bullet-ridden body. The accused said they were taking the body to be disposed of at some other place.

The trial court convicted the owner of the petrol pump, the main accused, to death and handed life terms to seven others. On appeal, the High Court reduced the death sentence to life for the main accused and dismissed the pleas of the others. The HC, however, acquitted two others.