RSF - Reporters sans frontières
RSF - Reporters sans frontières
01/09/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/10/2025 04:12
Indian reporter murdered for exposing corruption surrounding road contract
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) calls on the Indian authorities to lose no time in bringing to justice those responsible for the murder of a journalist whose battered body was found in a septic tank in Bijapur, in the east-central state of Chhattisgarh, shortly after he reported on the poor state of a road built by a local contractor, who has been arrested as the main suspect.
Two days after 32-year-old freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakarwas reported missing, his body was found on 3 January - with 15 skull fractures, a punctured heart and liver, and a broken neck - in a septic tank near the home of Suresh Chandrakar, a building contractor and close relative, who is now under arrest.
A week before his disappearance, Chandrakar and Nilesh Tripathi, a journalist with the national television station NDTV, produced a report about the poor state of a road for which Chandrakar's relative was awarded a contract said to be worth several million euros. An official investigation into the contract was opened the day after NDTVbroadcast the story on 25 December.
After two days on the run, Suresh Chandrakar was finally located and arrested on 7 January. Three other suspects have also been arrested, including Suresh's two brothers, Ritesh and Dinesh Chandrakar.
"The circumstances of Mukesh Chandrakar's horrific murder leave little room for doubt. He was killed in retaliation for his work and to silence him. This heinous crime must not go unpunished. We call on the Indian authorities to bring all those responsible to justice as quickly as possible and to guarantee the safety of journalists. Urgent measures must be put in place to protect them, especially those who dare to investigate sensitive stories such as corruption, often at the risk of their lives.
Célia Mercier
Head of RSF's South Asia desk
According to a Bijapur district police press release, the motive for the murder could not be clearer. It said that on the night of 1 January, Mukesh Chandrakar went to a dinner party "at the property of Suresh Chandrakar in the Chattan Para district of Bijapur" at Ritesh Chandrakar's invitation. An argument broke out about the "problems" that the journalist was causing his family in connection with their work. According to the police, Ritesh and Suresh's foreman then attacked him with steel bars, hitting his head, stomach, back and body, and killing him on the spot. They then threw his body into a septic tank, which was cemented over by Suresh's other brother.
A journalist for more than ten years, Mukesh Chandrakar covered sensitive issues including corruption on his own YouTube channel, Bastar Junction, which had more than 170 000 followers. In December, a few weeks before his death, he set off for the town of Mutvendi in Bijapur district to investigate the tragic death of a six-month-old baby in a gunfight, as well as landmine deaths in the area. It was on his way there that he noticed the poor condition of the newly built road between the villages of Ganglur and Nelasnar, which became the subject of the story that allegedly led to his murder.
Chhattisgarh, dangerous terrain for Indian journalists
Other journalists were the victims of violence in Chhattisgarh in 2024. They include four investigative reporters, Bappi Ray, Shivendu Trivedi, Dharmendra Singhand Manish Singh, who were followed, harassed, physically assaulted and then detained without evidence by local police for almost a month in August. They are still being prosecuted for "possession of cannabis" although a police officer was arrested for tampering with the evidence used against these reporters, who were investigating the "sand mafia"on the Chhattisgarh-Andhra Pradesh border.
Indiais ranked 159th out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
Published on09.01.2025