‘Fight for justice till the end’

Manjunath, a sales officer with IOC, was gunned down on November 19 following his crackdown on adulteration of fuel at some petrol pumps in Lakhimpur Kheri.

Both Manjunath’s father and mother, Pramila, attended the function today. His father even went to Lakhimpur Kheri to meet the police officials.

‘‘No one in my family, or even my community, had earlier reached IIM. We had many dreams for him. I used to tell Manju not to jump into anything, to always think twice before signing any documents,’’ said M Shanmugam.

He feared that the investigations would be hampered. ‘‘We fear that the wealth of the accused will dilute the case. In Lakhimpur Kheri, the police officials and IOC officials told me that if the case is not put on the fast track, it will dissolve within the next six months,’’ he said.

But the mother quickly added, ‘‘We will fight for justice till the end.’’ A batchmate, Kartik Parthasarthy, who also worked as a sales manager with IOC in Bareilly, recalled how difficult it was to carry out his duties honestly.

‘‘The message is clear — join the club or get out. There is so much danger that people think twice before being honest,’’ said Parthasarthy, who quit the job in January 2005.