The Manjunath murder trial began today at Lakhimpur district and sessions judge S M A Abidi’s court. Two key witnesses, ASI Ram Bhawan Singh, and constable Asha Ram, were examined today.

Ram Bhawan Singh was leading the police team that had intercepted the car carrying the body of Manjunath Shanmugam, an IIM-Lucknow graduate, in an area under Mehauli Police Station of Sitapur district a day after he was murdered. Two persons in the car had been arrested by the team. Today, the ASI identified them in court.

Manjunath was allegedly killed on November 19, 2005, at Mittal Automobile petrol pump at Gola Gokarn in Lakhimpur Kheri district.

Eight persons, including Monnu Mittal, the son of the owner of the petrol pump, are being tried in the case. The other accused are Harish, Rakesh Kumar, Vivek Sharma, Lalla Giri, Rajesh Verma, Devesh Agnihotri and Sanjay Awasthi.

H Jaishanker and Anjali, associated with the Manjunath Shanmugam Trust, flew in from Bangalore to observe the proceedings.

I B Singh, a leading High Court lawyer, is fighting the case on behalf of Manjunath Trust.

After a delay in presenting the accused in the court, a wait that had public prosecutor Chandra Mohan Singh visibly upset, the proceedings finally began at noon.

An advocate later told The Indian Express that the accused were brought to the court on time, but “the cops escorting the prisoners’ van had trouble entering the court due to media presence.”

Main witness recalls: Before being examined, Ram Bhagwan recalled the episode leading to the arrest of the accused. “It was about 8 am on November 20 when I intercepted a Maruti car” carrying Manjunath’s body, ASI Ram Bhawan told the judge, and narrated the whole episode.

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