Chhattisgarh journalist murder: Charges filed against contractor, three others
Bijapur, Mar 18 (PTI) A charge sheet was filed on Tuesday against four accused, including a construction contractor, in journalist Mukesh Chandrakar's murder case in a court in Chhattisgarh's Bijapur district.
The 1,200-page charge sheet named contractor Suresh Chandrakar, Ritesh Chandrakar, Dinesh Chandrakar, and Mahendra Ramteke, Bijapur Additional Superintendent of Police Mayank Gurjar said.
They are charged under sections 103 (murder), 238 (Causing disappearance of evidence of offence, or giving false information to screen offender), 61 (criminal conspiracy), 250 (Taking gift, etc., to screen an offender from punishment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), said Gurjar, heading the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
He said the digital and physical evidence was carefully examined during the investigation and included in the case diary.
We will try to ensure that all four accused get the harshest punishment from the court, he added.
Freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar, 33, went missing on January 1 this year. Two days later, his body was found dumped in a septic tank on a property owned by Suresh Chadnrakar in Bijapur town.
Suresh is the prime accused in the case. He, his brothers Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar, and supervisor Mahendra Ramteke were later arrested from separate places.
According to police, Suresh Chandrakar was enraged after journalist Mukesh Chandrakar published news highlighting alleged corruption in his road construction work in Bijapur.
Mukesh worked as a freelance journalist for NDTV and also ran a YouTube channel, 'Bastar Junction'. PTI