13 A Road In The Middle Of Nowhere Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Lakhimpur: Shanmugam Manjunath (23 February 1978 - 19 November 2005) was a sales officer (grade A officer) for the Indian Oil Corporation who was murdered for sealing a corrupt petrol station in Lakhimpur Kheri, Uttar Pradesh. This incident inspired several students at IIM, IIT and other institutes culminating with the IIM students setting up 'The Manjunath Shanmugam Trust'. While working for the Indian Oil Corporation in Lucknow, he ordered two petrol pumps at Lakhimpur Kheri sealed for selling adulterated fuel for three months. When the pump started operating again a month later, Manjunath decided to conduct a surprise raid around 19 November 2005. Having not heard from his son for three days, at around 9 that night, his father, M Shanmughan, sent an SMS: 'How are you? '. There was no reply because that night, during his inspection, Manjunath had been shot dead in the town of Gola Gokarannath in Lakhimpur Kheri. His body, riddled with at least six bullets, was found in the backseat of his own car, which was being driven by two employees of the petrol pump. Both were arrested and the main accused, pump-owner Pawan Kumar ('Monu') Mittal, was held on 23 November along with seven others. GREED KILLS COMPASSION.