Raipur: In a major breakthrough in the Mukesh Chandrakar murder case, police nabbed key accused Suresh Chandrakar from Hyderabad on Sunday night. Suresh is a contractor and is believed to be the mastermind of the journalist's killing. Mukesh went missing days after he exposed alleged corruption in a Rs 120-crore road construction project being handled by the contractor.
Suresh was reportedly hiding at his driver's residence in Hyderabad. According to a report by NDTV, the police reviewed footage from 200 CCTVs and traced nearly 300 mobile numbers. The contractor is being interrogated. His wife was also taken into custody.
On January 4, three persons were detained in connection with the case. Among the deceased was Ritesh Chandrakar. He is Suresh's brother and the cousin of the deceased journalist.
Mukesh went missing on January 1, and his body was found on Friday in the septic tank on a property owned by the contractor.
Initially, the tender of the road construction project from Gangalur to Hiroli in the Bastar region was of Rs 50 crore. However, the tender was reportedly increased to Rs 120 crore without any change in the scope of the work. Mukesh's expose led to the state government initiating an inquiry.
After Mukesh went missing, his elder brother Yukesh Chandrakar lodged a complaint with the police the next day. Tracking Mukesh's mobile number, police reached the property owned by Suresh Chandrakar and found the body in a septic tank, which was freshly cast with concrete slab, a police official as reported by PTI.
Mukesh worked for prominent news channels as a freelance reporter and also had a YouTube Channel.
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