Following the public outcry over the murder of S Manjunath — the 27-year-old graduate from the Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow (IIM-L) — the State Government has directed the Lakhimpur Kheri administration to conduct regular raids at all the petrol pumps in the district. Manjunath, the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) area sales manager posted in Lakhimpur Kheri, was shot dead on the night of November 19 after he sealed a petrol pump — Mittal Automobiles — in Gola Gokarn area of the district for selling adulterated fuel. Monu Mittal, the son of the dealer, is alleged to have pulled the trigger. He and seven other accused have since been arrested. In all, there are 68 petrol pumps in the district. Besides petrol pumps, the State Government has also directed the district administration to conduct regular raids at the PDS shops which supply kerosene oil as well as other agencies of all petroleum products. Apart from the district supply officer, all the six sub-divisional magistrates of the different tehsils in Khiri district have been asked to implement the order. Confirming the government order, District Supply Officer (DSO) V K Srivastva said: ‘‘I have already engaged nine supply inspectors to conduct raids at petrol pumps. All tehsils have their own teams. Officers of weights and measurement department have also been included in the raiding teams. The regular raids will begin from Monday.’’ According to him, a team raided three petrol pumps — Musaram Petrol Pump, Sharma and Brothers and Ballabh Das Kanhaiya Das — today. ‘‘We collected samples of diesel and petrol. These samples are being sent to laboratories,’’ said the DSO. He added that he would regularly apprise the district administration about the results of the raids. ‘‘The administration will also send a report to the assistant commissioner, food, on a daily basis,’’ he disclosed. Meanwhile, the Lakhimpur Kheri police today searched the house where Manjunath used to live in Kirat Nagar locality of Kheri town. They were accompanied by IOC officials. Police took possession of Manjunath’s computer as well as his official files and some documents. ‘‘We will examine the documents for information about his remarks against the main accused, Monu Mittal,’’ said P K Shukla, the investigating officer. Manjunath had taken the house on rent about a year back. However, the police are yet to lay their hands on the documents in which Manjunath could have made ‘‘adverse observations’’ against Mittal Automobiles, after the petrol pump re-opened on October 20. Earlier, Manjunath had got the petrol pump sealed from September 13 to October 20 after detecting malpractices. ‘‘During our search at the petrol pump, we traced the daily delivery register. But we could not see any remark by the officer. However, we failed to lay our hands on Manjunath’s inspection report. He may have provided one copy to Monu, but it was missing,’’ said a source in the Lakhimpur police department. According to him, Manjunath was supposed to prepare three copies of the inspection report — one for himself, one for the company’s head office at Bareilly and one for the dealer. Lakhimpur SP Jaki Ahemad said he would procure the report from IOC officials. ‘‘The irregularities which were detected by Manjunath on the day of his murder are yet to be known to the police,’’ he said. But the police felt that it has enough evidence against the accused. ‘‘We recovered blood-stained clothes which were used to remove the evidence from the crime spot. We are also in possession of Monu’s pistol which was used in the crime. The empty cartridges were recovered from the underground oil tank on the basis of Monu’s confession,’’ said the SP.
