The Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court commuted the death sentence of main accused Pawan Kumar Mittal to life imprisonment in the Manjunath murder case on Friday.
The court also acquitted two co-accused, Harish Misra and Sanjay Awasthi, while maintaining the life imprisonment of five others in the case. The division bench comprising Justice K K Misra and Justice D V Sharma pronounced this judgement on the appeals of these convicts against Kheri sessions court judgement passed on March 23, 2007.
Manjunath, sales officer of Indian Oil Corporation and an Indian Institute of Management-Lucknow pass out, was killed in 2005 allegedly after he brought to light the adulteration racket at the Mittal petrol pump in Kheri.
A chargesheet in this connection was filed against these persons on February 15, 2006.