On January 1, Mukesh Chandrakar sent me a link on WhatsApp to a story that he and Nilesh Tripathi had worked on, about the conditions of the schools in Naxal-affected Bastar. Three hours later, he would go missing.

I found out about Mukesh from another journalist friend, who had called me on January 3. He told me Mukesh had been missing for two days. The last call from Mukesh’s phone had been made at 8.28 pm, to his relative Ritesh Chandrakar, who was also missing after having boarded a flight to Delhi on the night of January 2. Mukesh’s brother Yukesh had filed a missing person’s report with the police. He also uploaded a video on Mukesh’s YouTube channel, appealing for help. “My brother is a real hero,” Yukesh Chandrakar said in the video. “I don’t feel like I am his elder brother today. It seems I have lost a child today.”

Hours later, the special team formed by Bijapur police to look into Mukesh’s case found a body in a septic tank in the area near his home, at what was the last location on Mukesh’s phone. Around 5.26 pm, my friend called me to tell me about the body. It wasn’t confirmed as Mukesh’s, but there was a chance that it might be him, my friend told me. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. We all hoped it wouldn’t be Mukesh.

Two hours later, the body found in the septic tank was confirmed as Mukesh Chandrakar.

My friend and fellow journalist had been brutally beaten and killed. He was 32 years old. The main suspect? Contractor Suresh Chandrakar, who had recently had an extravagant wedding for which he’d used a helicopter and organised Russian dancers. He was also a distant relative of Mukesh’s.

The story that killed Mukesh

On December 19, 2024, Mukesh Chandrakar, along with Nilesh Tripathi, his colleague from the news channel NDTV, travelled to Mutavendi. The two had worked together for 10 years and collaborated on many projects. This time, they were following up on the tragic death of a six-month-old girl who had got caught in a crossfire the previous year as well as landmine deaths in the region. The two of them also reported on the conditions of new schools, the salaries of teachers and the implementation of government schemes in the area.

While on their way to Mutavendi, Mukesh and Nilesh noticed the poor condition of a newly-constructed road and while returning to Bijapur, Nilesh did a report on the road’s condition, highlighting its poor quality. He titled the story “Jahan shaheed huye jawan wahan kyun ho raha hai ghatiya sadak nirman?” (Why is the road quality poor where martyrs died?). The piece was aired on December 24, 2024, and caught public attention. Within a day, the government took note and ordered an inquiry on the construction of the road that goes into Naxal areas.

The decision to do a story on the road was a spur-of-the-moment one. “The road was constructed from Ganglur to Nileshnar and we went up to Hiroli as we had to go to Mutvendi. The road condition was really bad, so I told Mukesh that we would do the story on our way back to Bijapur. Basically it was an accidental story as we went to Mutvendi to cover some other stories,” recalled Nilesh.

It was only when they looked into the matter at the collector’s office, they learnt Suresh Chandrakar was the contractor. Off the record, authorities in the office told them that he did........

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