‘Contractor main plotter’: Charge sheet in journalist murder case
Within 72 hours of the recovery of the journalist’s body, all four accused were arrested, said police
The Chhattisgarh Police on Tuesday filed a charge sheet in the Mukesh Chandrakar murder case, saying the freelance journalist was killed for reporting irregularities in road construction work in Bijapur district and the murder was planned by the four arrested accused — a contractor, his two brothers and a supervisor.
In the 1,200-page charge sheet filed before a Bijapur district court, the special investigation team (SIT) said that the named accused — contractor Suresh Chandrakar, (his brothers) Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar, and supervisor Mahendra Ramteke — dumped the journalist’s body into a septic tank and covered it with a fresh concrete slam in an attempt to mislead the police.
“The news related [to] irregularities in the Nelasnar-Mirthur-Gangaloor road construction work done by Suresh and his associates became the main reason for the murder. To mislead the police, the accused had dumped the body into a septic tank and covered it with a fresh concrete slab,” the police said in a statement.
Suresh, who held a grudge against Mukesh for exposing corruption in his construction contracts, orchestrated the journalist’s murder, police said.
Mukesh Chandrakar, 33, who worked as a freelancer for NDTV and ran a YouTube channel, Bastar Junction, went missing on January 1 this year and his body was found dumped in a septic tank on a property owned by Suresh in Bijapur two days later.
Within 72 hours of the recovery of the journalist’s body, all four accused were arrested by the police, the statement said, adding the forensic team completed the probe based on scientific and technical evidence and a total of 72 witnesses were included in the witness list.
“We will try to ensure that all four accused get the harshest punishment from the court,” Bijapur additional superintendent of police (ASP) Mayank Gurjar told reporters, adding that the digital and physical evidence was carefully examined during the investigation and included in the case diary.
In the charge sheet, the four accused have been charged under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including 103 (murder), 238 (causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 61 (criminal conspiracy), 239 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform), and 249 (harbouring offender), Gurjar, who is heading the SIT in the case, added.
