SC upholds life term for six in Manjunath murder case

New Delhi, March 11 (IANS) The Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the life sentence of six people convicted for the killing of Indian Oil Corporation's sales officer S. Manjunath after he hauled up a petrol pump dealer for malpractices and irregularities in the operation of the petrol pump.

An inspection by Manjunath resulted in the suspension of supply to the said petrol pump in Lakhimpur Kheri district in Uttar Pradesh.

The supply of petrol was restored only after the owner paid a fine of Rs.75,000. Manjunath again inspected the pump suspecting that the owner was continuing with the malpractices.

Agreeing with the findings of the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court and the trial court convicting and awarding life imprisonment to six people, the apex court bench of Justice Sudhansu Jyoti Mukhopadhaya and Justice N.V. Ramana said: "The nexus between the accused to do away with the deceased has been established by the prosecution beyond all reasonable doubt."

"In the present case, on scrutiny of evidence on record, we are convinced that the prosecution had established beyond reasonable doubt the complete chain of events which points at the guilt of the accused," said Justice Ramana, speaking for the bench.

Brushing aside the contention that the number of bullets used in the crime was not proportionate to the number of bullets hitting the deceased, the court said: "In every case of gun firing, it is not required that each and every bullet should hit the target."

"There may be attempts by the deceased or the victim to save himself from the raining bullets, and in which case, the bullets may not hit the target. Merely because all the bullets fired from the gun did not hit the target and were not recovered from the scene of offence, is no ground to conclude that the incident did not take place."

Addressing the contention that there were contradictions in the evidence tendered by the prosecution witnesses, the court said: "No true witness can possibly escape from making some discrepant details. But courts should bear in mind that it is only when discrepancies in the evidence of a witness are so incompatible with the credibility of his version that the court is justified in jettisoning his evidence."

The court said: "We are of the considered opinion that such minor discrepancies should not come in the way of the other strong circumstantial evidence, cumulatively taken together, forms a complete chain of events, pointing towards the guilt of the accused in the commission of the crime."

The court said that "in the instant case, the evidence on record is trustworthy and consistent, and there is only one view, which points to the guilt of the accused".

Manjunath earned the wrath of the accused Pawan Kumar alias Monu Mittal for twice inspecting the petrol pump that was owned by his father.

Monu Mittal along with Rakesh Kumar Anand, Shivkesh Giri, Devesh Agnihotri, Rajesh Verma, Sanjauy Awasthi, Harish Mishra and Vivek Sharma planned the killing.

The trial court awarded the death sentence to Monu Mittal, and life imprisonment to the others.

However, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court by its December 11, 2009, order commuted Monu Mittal's death sentence to life imprisonment and acquitted Sanjay Awasthi and Harish Mishra, giving them benefit of doubt.

The high court upheld the life imprisonment of the other five convicts.