The Chhattisgarh police on Sunday arrested the main suspect in the murder of independent journalist Mukesh Chandrakar, whose body was found in the septic tank of a shed in Bastar district. The accused Suresh Chandrakar, a contractor, was arrested from Hyderabad.
Suresh Chandrakar, a relative of the victim Mukesh, had fled Chhattisgarh after the murder came to light. Police said the accused, Suresh, took help from his cousins Ritesh and Dinesh, and construction supervisor Mahendra Ramteke to commit the murder. They were angry at Mukesh for "interfering in their work."
Mukesh had reported about the poor road construction work, following which the government ordered an inquiry. This angered Suresh, one of the contractors in the project.
The autopsy of Mukesh has revealed that he was tortured brutally before being murdered. The postmortem report revealed his liver had split into four pieces while five of his ribs and neck bones had broken.
Besides, he had broken the bone in his hand. His heart too suffered huge damage and there were over 15 injuries on his head. After murdering Mukesh Chandrakar, contractor Suresh Chandrakar threw his body in the septic tank.
The search for Mukesh began a day after he went missing, on the complaint filed by his brother Yugesh. The police located the spot where Mukesh's phone was last active and arrived at the contractor's shed. They got suspicious on seeing the septic tank which was newly concretised. The police broke open the tank from where they recovered the body.
The incident triggered widespread anger that Chief Minister Vishnudev Sai ordered the demolition of a road construction plant. Following this, Suresh's property was razed down by the senior district administration official. Suresh had several road construction projects in his kitty and had won tenders for three road projects.
Meanwhile, allegations surfaced that the accused was active in the Congress party. However former Chief Minister Bhupesh Bhagel said he jumped ship to the BJP long ago and was even spotted going to the Chief Minister's House.
