RAIPUR: The Bijapur police in south Chhattisgarh on Tuesday filed a 1241-page chargesheet in the district court against the four accused including a contractor in the brutal killing of a 33-year-old journalist Mukesh Chandrakar on January 1 this year.
The Bastar scribe was murdered, after he went missing, reportedly owing to his investigative report on the irregularities and bad road construction works in the area by a contractor, Suresh Chandrakar, a prime accused who also happens to be a relative of Mukesh.
An 11-member special investigation team (SIT) led by Bijapur additional superintendent of police Bijapur Mayank Gurjar was then constituted to probe the death of the journalist.
The chargesheet presented by the SIT team had named Suresh besides Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar (both are cousins of Mukesh) and a contractor’s employee Mahendra Ramteke.
“The police produced a 1200-page plus chargesheet in the Mukesh Chandrakar murder case before the court against the four accused under various sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). Detailed investigations taking into consideration digital and physical evidence were carried out. We will strongly contest the case to ensure stringent punishment be meted out to all the four accused”, said Mayank Gurjar.
Mukesh, who was earlier a freelancer for a couple of national media houses, had his own YouTube channel ‘Bastar Junction’.