Sri Jayachamaraja College of Engineering (SJCE) faculty and students gathered at a condolence meeting (Nov.26, 2005), held in remembrance of a noted alumnus Shanmugam Manjunath, 27, who paid the ultimate price for his honesty and uprightness in the discharge of his duty, as an IOC official in UP. He was killed in Lakhimpur Kheri reportedly because he exposed a petrol dealer allegedly indulging in adulteration of fuel. Manjunath passed out of SJCE in 1990.
Nowadays honesty comes at a terrible price. If it was 31-year old IITien from Kanpur, Satyendra Kumar Dubey, who was shot dead in Nov 27 2003 in Bihar, it is now the turn of 27 year old MBA from Lucknow and an engineering graduate from Mysore. Both were brutally murdered in the discharge of duty. Rajaji called India the land of licence-permit raj and from then the rot had set in, and now it has morphed into a goonda-mafia raj. Starting with obtaining a birth certificate, no transaction involving government agency is easily made without palm-greasing. Even a death certificate comes with a hush-price. How many Dubeys and Manjunaths have to be martyred at the altar of their conscience?
His college-mates remember Manjunath as a singer, theatre person and, above all, a good human being. "I knew him from my college days. He was part of the orchestra gang and his voice was so different. He could just bring a smile to so many people. He could probably sing songs, which could bring tears to everybody's eyes. That was the emotion that he conveyed," said Ganesh Raj, SJCE alumnus.
’He was very much liked by friends’ - Mukunda Devanga, President, SJCE alumni. "Manjunath was my classmate. We used to call him Machaa.’ –Lakshmi. - Nupur Basu, ndtv.com
Manjunath Shanmugam has not been forgotten. His friends, IIM alumnus from across the world have founded a trust that will fight a legal battle to bring his killers to book and take up cudgels against the corrupt. The trust registered in Mysore will raise funds from the global community and about 20 IIM alumni are spearheading the effort. The initiative currently has two trustees, Anjali Mullatti (IIM-Lucknow '93) and H Jaishankar (IIM-Bangalore '91). (DNA India, Feb.24, 2006 - 'Friends take up Machan's cause')