Consolation, if any, for murdered IOC officer S Manjunath’s family came yesterday when Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) chairman S Behuria handed over a cheque of Rs 26 lakh to his father M Shanmugham. He promised to pay off Manjunath’s outstanding MBA education loan of Rs 2 lakh taken from the Canara Bank. Meanwhile, the Punjab National Bank (PNB) has decided to write off the Rs 1.73 lakh outstanding against Manjunath’s educational loan. As a special gesture, the bank also decided to remit insurance claim of Rs 1.50 lakh to his family after settlement by the LIC. ‘‘On November 17 (two days before his murder), Manjunath deposited a double installment of Rs 10,000. His installment was Rs 5,000 per month,’’ said J P Tripathi, PNB’s Dy GM (Zonal office) in Lucknow. He said that the bank’s CMD S C Gupta decided today to waive off Manjunath’s loan . Manjunath’s family in the Kolar Gold Fields were told yesterday by IOC chairman Behuria that they would recommend Manjunath’s name for the national bravery award. ‘‘Manjunath was invaluable to us. Nothing can actually compensate for his death,’’ the father said.
