Bijapur, January 6
Suresh Chandrakar, the main accused in the murder of a journalist in Chhattisgarh’s Bijapur district, has been arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) from Hyderabad. Police gave this information today. Meanwhile, local officials said that the construction yard built by Suresh Chandrakar on the Bijapur-Gangalore road by occupying the forest land has been demolished. On the other hand, the police has also started the process of freezing the bank accounts of Suresh Chandrakar and other accused. Currently, three accounts of Suresh Chandrakar have been put on hold.
The accused Suresh Chandrakar, a contractor by profession, was absconding since the murder of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar. Bastar area IG Sundarraj P said that the SIT formed to investigate the murder case took Suresh Chandrakar into custody from Hyderabad late on Sunday night.
The official said that the accused was brought to Bijapur on Monday morning and he is being interrogated. He said that Suresh Chandrakar’s brothers Ritesh Chandrakar and Dinesh Chandrakar and supervisor Mahendra Ramteke have already been arrested in this case.
Freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar (33) went missing on January 1. The police had earlier said that his body was found on January 3 in a septic tank built on the property of Suresh Chandrakar in Chattanpara Basti of Bijapur city.
Journalist Chandrakar used to work as a freelance journalist for NDTV news channel and also runs the YouTube channel ‘Bastar Junction’ which has around 1.59 lakh subscribers.
A news story aired on NDTV on December 25 highlighting alleged corruption in road construction work in Bijapur is believed to be the reason behind Mukesh Chandrakar’s murder. That construction work was related to contractor Suresh Chandrakar. Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma had claimed that Suresh Chandrakar was a Congress leader. However, the opposition claimed that the accused had recently joined the ruling BJP. The authorities have started action against the illegal properties and illegal possession of the accused.
On the other hand, the members of Mahar Samaj took out a candle march here on Sunday to condemn the killing of the journalist and demanded death penalty to the accused. Meanwhile, on Saturday, the journalists staged a protest at the Raipur Press Club and demanded strict action against the accused. -News-Patiala
