On the second day of the Manjunath murder trial, another petrol pump owner in Gola Gokarn said that the main accused, Monu Mittal, had contacted him to inquire about S Manjunath’s whereabouts on the day he was killed.According to I B Singh, the lawyer engaged by the Manjunath Trust, the witness, Ashok Agarwal, manager of Agarwal Petrol Pump, told the Court that Monu had contacted him on the phone and ‘‘sought to know about Manjunath’s location’’.Monu is the son of the owner of Mittal Automobiles at Gola Gokarn, where Manjunath was reportedly killed. He and seven others, Harish, Rakesh Kumar, Vivek Sharma, Lalla Giri, Rajesh Verma, Devesh Agnihotri and Sanjay Awasthi, have since been arrested.Manjunath, a sales officer with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), was killed on November 19 last year, after he reportedly threatened to seal Mittal Automobiles for selling adulterated fuel.Anurag Agarwal, a partner at the Agarwal Petrol Pump, also appeared as a witness. He said Manjunath was watching a cricket match on TV at his service station on the evening of November 19. Before leaving, Manjunath reportedly said he was going to Monu’s petrol pump.Earlier in the day, Dhanraj Sahani, who used to be Manjunath’s landlord, also appeared as the prosecution’s witness. Appearing before Lakhimpur District and Sessions Judge S M A Abidi, Sahani said that on November 20, he happened to be near a dhaba under the Mahauli police station area. A crowd had gathered there, and Sahani recognised Manjunath’s vehicle. ‘‘I identified Manjunath’s body and his vehicle,’’ Sahani told the Court. The trial will continue tomorrow.
