5 held for IOC staffer’s murder

He took the latter, pumping bullets into Manjunathan from his licensed pistol, the police said.

Now the main accused in the case, Monu is the only son of Sulakshan Mittal, the owner of a petrol pump in Gola Gokarn area of Lakhimpur Kheri district.

It was Manjunathan who had ordered the sealing of the pump as it was selling adulterated petrol. After a month of closure, the pump was allowed to start functioning. But apparently, it again started selling adulterated petrol.

‘‘It was also part of Manjunathan’s job to inspect the petrol pump after it restarted. But a second complaint from him would have meant the closure of the pump for good. Its dealership would have been terminated,’’ said Lakhimpur Superintendent of Police Zaki Ahmed. ‘‘The young man was known for his honesty and integrity.’’

It was the SP who quoted Manjunathan’s last words to Monu, who had revealed it during interrogation. Ahmed, however, is not convinced that Monu killed Manjunathan on the spur of the moment.

‘‘I think the murder was planned in advance. But what leaves room for doubt in the conspiracy theory is the absence of hired assassins. Moreover it remains a moot point as to why Monu had risked using his own pistol. Monu and his friend Devesh had pumped three and four bullets respectively into Manjunathan’s body,’’ Ahmed told this reporter at his Lakhimpur residence. Of the eight accused in the case, seven have been arrested.

Rakesh Anand alias Bobby and Vivek Sharma were arrested on Saturday, soon after the murder took place. Today, the police picked up Monu, Lallah Giri, Harish Mishra, Sanjay Awasthi and Rajesh Verma. All seven are in judicial custody. The eighth accused, Devesh Agnihotri, is absconding.

Two of the accused have criminal backgrounds.

‘‘Devesh Agnihotri’s name had figured in at least 10 cases in the past. The last one was filed in 2000. Devesh is a close friend of Monu. Another person with criminal background is Monu’s employee Rakesh Anand alias Bobby,’’ the SP disclosed.

On Saturday night, Manjunathan had spent the whole day at the agency. In the afternoon, when he went to Monu’s pump, despite Monu’s request, he preferred to watch the proceedings from his car.

He checked the quantity of petrol served to customers several times, said Ahmed. ‘‘Around 5 pm he left the pump and went to agency — Ratan Petrol pump — on Lakhimpur road.

He watched India-South Africa match there. But he had left his five-litre container (meant for measuring petrol and diesel) at Monu’s agency. He went back there around 9.30 pm to pick it up and took the opportunity to inspect the stock again. This time, Monu and his accomplice shot him,’’ the SP said.

Manjunathan had joined as the sales officer of Indian Oil at Lakhimpur Kheri in October 2003.

In his two years there, he had made his mark for honesty. IOC officials remember that he used to keep a good rapport with service station boys and would pick up information from them on petrol adulteration.

‘‘He was a strict officer for the dealers. But he always took care of us — sometimes even giving us money for cleaning uniforms and shaving,’’ said Nand Kishore, a service boy at the Sarala petrol station.