RAIPUR: In a shocking incident, the Asthi Kalash (urn with ashes) of the slain journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was found shattered and lying spread on the ground, some fifty metres away from the cremation ground in Bijapur district, about 400 km south of Raipur.
Chandrakar was brutally murdered on January 1, after he reported corruption in the execution of the road construction contracts secured by his cousins in the Maoist-affected area of Bijapur.
When the relatives of Chandrakar reached Muktidham on Monday, they found the 'Kalash' missing from the place they kept earlier, following which they searched nearby and traced the broken urn with ashes lying scattered on the ground some 50 metres away, the police said.
The 'Kalash' was to be taken to Kaleshwaram in Telangana for Asthi Visarjan, a sacred ritual of immersing the ashes of departed persons into a holy river.
“Based on the complaint by Yukesh, brother of Mukesh, the police began an investigation. The CCTV cameras installed nearby are being checked to nab the culprit. The offenders will not be spared”, a senior police officer added.