Chhattisgarh SIT nabs prime accused in journalist murder case from city

It is reported that Suresh, who had after the murder vanished, placed his mobile at his house in Chhattisgarh and bought a new mobile phone with a new SIM in his driver’s name and got it activated in the city. The accused was in a bunion and shorts when arrested, never expected and was stunned when he saw the SIT team at the main door in the early hours, police sources disclosed. The SIT team had seized his mobile phone two days back and collected his personal driver’s number and figured out the location.

Mukesh Chandrakar, a 33-year-old freelance journalist, went missing on January 1. His body was found two days later in a septic tank on a property owned by the prime accused, Suresh Chandrakar, at Chattanpara Basti in Bijapur town. Suresh, along with his associates, ripped out the victim’s body parts and smashed his head with a blunt object, causing 15 fractural injuries to his head, spine and ribs, the PME reports stated.

Mukesh recently exposed alleged corruption in a `120-crore road construction project from Gangapur to Hiroli in the Bastar region. The project, whose initial tender was worth `50 crore, saw it escalating to `120 crore without any changes to the scope of work. The project was being handled by contractor Suresh Chandrakar.

Ritesh, one of the accused, who is the brother of Suresh Chandrakar, allegedly arranged a meeting of the contractor with Mukesh on the night of January 1. Following the meeting, Mukesh's phone went offline, and he was reported missing by his elder brother, Yukesh Chandrakar. The journalist's body was discovered two days later in a septic tank on a property owned by accused Suresh in Chattanpara, where he was last seen alive.

Suresh Chandrakar, who was missing for the past seven days after Mukesh’s murder, was hiding at his driver's home in the city. The SIT who took up the investigation detected and identified accused Suresh by reviewing over 280 CCTVs and traced the GPS locations and call dialling records of as many as 290 mobile phones and numbers, police sources disclosed.

SIT, prior to his arrest, had frozen four bank accounts linked to Suresh Chandrakar and also detained his wife from his house in the Kanker district of Chhattisgarh. Police traced Suresh through GPS location and after questioning his wife there, police sources disclosed.

SIT seized his mobile phones and some property-related documents and liquid cash from his hideout in the city and took Suresh late to Chhattisgarh, late on Sunday night, for interrogation.