Chhattisgarh CM announces Rs 10 lakh aid to murdered journalist's family
Raipur, Jan 14: Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai on Tuesday announced an aid of Rs 10 lakh to the kin of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar, who was murdered in Bijapur district earlier this month.
Talking to reporters at the helipad in Police Lines, Sai said a building will be constructed for scribes and named after the slain journalist.
Freelance journalist Mukesh Chandrakar (33) went missing on January 1. His body was found on January 3 in a septic tank on a property owned by road contractor Suresh Chandrakar at Chattanpara Basti in Bijapur town.
Suresh Chandrakar, the prime accused, was arrested from Hyderabad on January 5, while his brothers Ritesh and Dinesh and supervisor Mahendra Ramteke were arrested earlier.
Sai said, "The family of the deceased journalist will be given Rs 10 lakh assistance. A building will be constructed for journalists, and it will be named after him."
The special investigation team probing the case has said the accused, Suresh Chandrakar, the slain journalist's relative, was enraged after the latter published a news report highlighting alleged corruption in his road construction work in Bijapur.
Mukesh Chandrakar worked as a freelance journalist for the NDTV news channel and ran a YouTube channel, 'Bastar Junction', which has around 1.59 lakh subscribers.
He played a crucial role in the release of CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas from Maoist captivity in April 2021 following the Takalguda Naxal ambush in Bijapur, in which 22 security personnel died.
The Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) is a specialised jungle warfare unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma earlier claimed that Suresh Chandrakar was a Congress leader. The opposition party, however, claimed he had recently joined the ruling BJP.
The state Public Works Department (PWD) has suspended the accused road contractor's registration and cancelled contracts allotted to him.
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3 killed, 15 injured as auto-rickshaw hits multiple vehicles in Thane
Thane (PTI): Three persons were killed and 15 others injured when an auto-rickshaw hit a bus and some other vehicles on a highway in Maharashtra's Thane district on Wednesday morning, police said.
The accident took place at 4.15 am on Mumbai-Agra highway near Khinavli bridge at Ghoteghar village in Shahapur taluka, they said.
The auto-rickshaw driver lost control over the wheels. As a result, the vehicle hit the road-divider, jumped the lane and collided with a private luxury bus, two cars and a tempo coming from the opposite direction, an official from Shahapur police station told PTI.
Three occupants of the bus died on the spot and 15 other persons, including the auto-rickshaw driver, were injured, he said.
The bus was on way from Nashik to Mumbai, the official said.
After being alerted, local police along with the emergency response teams rushed to the spot.
The injured persons were admitted to Shahapur sub-hospital and three of them were reported to be in a serious condition, the official said.
The bodies were sent to a government hospital for post-mortem, the police added.
