Three people have been arrested in connection with the murder of a 33-year-old journalist whose body was found in a septic tank at a local contractor’s site in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, police said on Saturday.
Mukesh Chandrakar, a a freelance journalist, went missing on January 1and his body was found on Friday in a septic tank at the premises of contractor Suresh Chandrakar at Chattanpara Basti in Bijapur city.
“Three people have been arrested in connection with the murder case and they are being interrogated,” said an official here.
The police, however, did not reveal their names and said the details would be released later in the day.
Mukesh has worked as a freelance journalist for news channels, including NDTV, and has a YouTube channel, ‘Bastar Junction’, which has around 1.59 lakh subscribers. He played a key role in the release of a CoBRA commando, Rakeshwar Singh Manhas, from Maoist abduction in April 2021 following the Takalguda Naxal ambush in Bijapur, in which 22 security personnel were killed.
He went missing on Wednesday evening, and his elder brother Yukesh Chandrakar lodged a complaint with the police the next day, a police official said.
Following Mukesh’s number, the police reached Suresh Chandrakar’s place and found the body in the septic tank, which had been recently cemented, he said.
The police suspect that this murder incident is related to a recent report of road construction irregularities in the region where the victim was traveling. Suresh Chandrakar is said to be involved in the project.
Journalists staged a sit-in at Hospital Chowk on National Highway 36 in the city this morning, demanding that the contractor’s properties in Bastar division, including Bijapur, be registered and a case registered against him.
They also demanded the death penalty for the contractor and others involved in the murder case, deletion of his bodyguards’ information, closure of his bank accounts, among other demands.
The protesting journalists also demanded the suspension or transfer of the Bijapur superintendent of police.
The protesters warned that the roads will be closed from Sunday if their demands are not met.
Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Friday assured that the culprits will be arrested soon.
Meanwhile, members of the Raipur Press Club on Friday gathered at Jai Stambh Chowk demanding action against the killers and asked the state government to form a special investigation team to probe the murder. The PTI
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