Perils of vigilance: A whistle-blower dies / NOV 24, 2005

Thursday, November 24, 2005 11:40:00 PM

Gayatri Jayaraman
DNA

MUMBAI: Struggling to express their grief, shock, despair and hope, students and alumni of the IIMs have taken to mailing,
blogging, calling, talking. A silence march was held at the IIM Lucknow mess on November 24, and elegies have been
incessantly pouring in, on alumni e-groups and blogs, condemning the murder of Manjunath, India's second martyr whistle-
blower.
Fondly remembered as Machan, the affable singer carried a certain warmth that suited his role as an active secretary of the
IIM Lucknow MBA batch of 2002. He cheered some up, gave others a dose of reality, and always did his job well. Possibly
this, more than anything else, made his assailants pump six bullets into the 27-year-old sales manager. Online, the shock
totters on despair. "Sad, but this is what our system has cultivated. One honest officer trying to do his job in the right way
becomes the victim of the very system he is trying to protect," says one sympathiser.
"It begins from why the gas has to be adulterated. Why the owners are so desperate about losing their license? Why Manju's
repeated recommendations didn't ring a bell in the hierarchy up at IOC? Should IIML have a separate elective for 'soft-skills'
for a sales role? These are few of the bigger questions that Manju's death imposes on us. Working towards them is one of the
ways we can pay respect to Manju," said the Remembering Manjunath blog. As the news spread, shocked peers called up
DNA. "We need to make a noise about it, so his death won't be in vain," was a common refrain.
Vikas Mantri of SBI Capital Markets was Manjunath's junior and considered him a mentor while at college. He met him last at
the IIM alumni meet 2004 and is ridden with guilt that he didn't pay much attention to the threats Manjunath was receiving
even then. "He was being offered large sums of money to clear inspections, he spoke of adulteration, of the hardships at a
PSU, and about the financial and political clout these dealers wielded. He received rude warnings, but I didn't know it would
lead to this." Beneath all the apparent despair and shock is a thirst for justice and change. "The one fallout is students will
now be wary of taking up jobs in such geographies," warns Shah.
Online community unites to get justice
Quick to react to Manjunath's murder, his friends from IIM Lucknow, Sri Jayachamarajendra Engineering College, Mysore and
other IIMs are participating in a signature campaign to seek justice.
The online community of his friends and well-wishers has expressed their support for a petition addressed to the Prime
Minister seeking independent inquiry into the murder. The signature count on the petition site has been fast increasing. At 12
noon on Thursday, it had 243 signatures and by 7 pm the number had touched the 800 mark.
Created by Manjunath's college friend Chandrashekar Ramanan, who is based in the US, the online community also urges
organisations like IOC to ensure the safety of their officers. IIM-Lucknow director Devi Singh told DNA he too supports the
petition.