‘My son told me about the mafia, he was killed for doing his duty for IOC’

His friends and batchmates have sent several emails to The Indian Express drawing parallels with the murder of Satyendra Dubey—the IIT engineer and NHAI official who was killed in Gaya after he complained of corruption on the Golden Quadrilateral.

For a grieving father, that’s little consolation.

Especially, when his son had told him about the risks, the mafia, and the father had advised him “to let go of some things” because he was all alone.

Having not heard from his son for three days, at around 9 pm last Saturday, the father, M Shanmughan, a design manager with BEML in Kolar Gold Fields, sent an SMS: ‘‘How are you?’’

There was no reply.

For, that evening, Manjunath was beaten up and then riddled with at least six bullets. His body was found in the backseat of his own car. At the wheel, were two employees of the petrol pump, on their way to dispose of the body. Both were arrested on Saturday and the main accused, pump-owner Monu Mittal, was held today along with four others.

On Sunday, at a family function in Chennai, Shanmughan got a call saying his son had been shot.

Manjunath, an engineering graduate from JSS Engineering College, Mysore, and an MBA from IIM, Lucknow had ordered the sealing of the pump for selling adulterated fuel. But a month later, the pump started operating again, prompting him to conduct a surprise raid. It was during the raid that he was murdered, say UP police.

“He was killed for doing his duty,’’ said a tearful Shanmughan after the cremation. ‘‘He told me many times that he was working in an area with many mafia gangs and that anything could happen to him. I never thought it could happen,’’ he said, fighting to regain his composure. ‘‘He used to tell me about the lack of proper controlling systems and official support when it came to stopping adulteration and booking wrongdoers in UP. He said it is a lawless world and for survival, one has to keep mum even if there are irregularities,’’ said Shanmughan. ‘‘He wanted the dealers to follow all norms. I used to tell him ‘you are alone, don’t get worked up, let some things go’. He said he was responsible to his company and its sales… I told him to come back home. But he said he loved the challenge.’’

The family resides in Kolar, 90 km from Bangalore. He was the eldest of three children. ‘‘He financed all his education himself through loans,’’ said the distraught father.

Manjunath’s death has shocked and outraged all those who knew him. ‘‘He was such a free spirit. He had no enemies and yet he suffered such a heinous fate. Just because he was doing his duty,’’ his IIM classmate Sunit Sapra wrote in an e-mail to The Indian Express. ‘‘The case is no less than the killing of Satyendra Dubey. The criminals must be brought to justice and Manju’s sacrifice must be given the respect it deserves,’’ he wrote.

For Manjunath’s professor at IIM-L, Debashis Chatterjee, it’s a personal loss. ‘‘He was not our typical 8-point brilliant student… but he was a go-getter, very courageous and hardworking. He used to come to me at 4 am to study… we all will miss him,’’ he said. Chatterjee plans to get in touch with as many alumni as possible to decide on a course of action. ‘‘We shall not let him vanish quietly into the night,’’ he said. Messages from his batchmates are pouring in.

‘‘He would always keep his mind on the silver lining of a dark cloud, always laughing and joking around. You fought the odds real hard. Goodbye Machan,’’ wrote Karthik Parthasarathy, IIM-L Batch of 2003. ‘‘He was the booming voice of 3.4, our campus band. He sang from the bottom of his heart, and with an infectious enthusiasm. One of those singers who made the listeners feel like singing along, or at least clap in tune. Bye Machan,’’ wrote Gaurav Sabnis, IIM-L batch of 2003. Machan is what they used to call Manjunath, the singer from Karnataka. ‘‘At Mysore, they had a singing contest where girls dropped flowers to vote for the best singer, it was my son who won,’’ said Shanmughan, fighting his tears.