Bijapur: A day after senior Bastar journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was found murdered in a septic tank at a contractor’s place in Bijapur, the district administration initiated a bulldozer action demolishing illegal encroachment at his house.
The Bijapur district administration used JCB machines to demolish the alleged illegal encroachment at the accused Suresh Chandrakar’s premises. The victim Mukesh Chandrakar’s body was found in a septic tank at the property of the accused.
The scribe Mukesh was missing since Jan 1, 2025. Police raided the house of Suresh and found journalist’s body from the septic tank. The body was heavily decomposed and the victim was identified from his clothes.
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Mukesh went missing on Jan 1
On Jan 1, journalist Mukesh was called by accused Suresh’s brother Ritesh. After that, Mukesh’s phone remained switched off. Police recovered Mukesh’s body from from the septic tank of Suresh Chandrakar.
It is alleged there is strong contractor lobby who gets government contracts by bribing officials. And when journalists expose the nexus, they are threatened and intimidated due to their reports.
The murder of Mukesh Chandrakar has exposed the faultlines between the journalists and the contractor lobby.
Journalist exposed corrupt practices
Notably, Mukesh had reportedly exposed the corrupt practices by contractor Suresh. The contractor had got Rs 120 cr project to lay roads. Following Mukesh’s report, a probe was initiated by the government against the contractor.
And since Jan 1, Mukesh went missing. It is alleged that Suresh’s brother Ritesh had called the journalist for the last time before the murder. It is also said that a concrete layer was placed above the septic tank to hide the murder. The concrete layer raised suspicion and police broke it to recover the body.
