[dropcap]C[/dropcap]overing Bastar, a hilly district in Chhattisgarh which is full of dense forests and is part of India’s ‘red corridor’, a nickname for the regions most affected by the Maoist insurgency is encrypted with warnings.
The other warnings are few employment opportunities, the presence of powerful mining corporations, corruption in infrastructure projects, and issues of journalists’ safety and security. Here, red lines are drawn by many other resourceful forces. The corruption shifting its base in Bastar is nothing new where freelance journalist and YouTuber Mukesh Chandrakar was born and murdered. The early life of the journalist has been punishing. Having lost his father when he was two years old, his mother, Kaushalya decided to step out of the home and became an Anganwadi worker.
Mukesh and Yunkesh, his elder brother often joined their mother in the jungle in collecting mahua and tamarind. The more money the family gathered, the better their chances of surviving in Basaguda village. But life took a different turn. With the rise of the Salwa Judum movement in the year 2005 in Chhattisgarh, the Chandrakar family shifted to a makeshift camp. They became a part of the odd 50,000 villagers who have been displaced from their homes and deprived of livelihoods. In these makeshift camps, human rights abuses were rampant, and the movement became increasingly violent and uncontrollable.
According to the Forum for Fact-finding Documentation and Advocacy survey, a huge chunk of the “officially recruited 4200 Special Police Officers (SPOs)” were minors. One another report published in The Times of India dated March 20, 2010, in a Salwa Judum elaborates further. The report says the camp in Konta, Dantewada, “Skinny, impoverished young men dressed in battle fatigues greet you at the camp”. It says that uneducated young boys are given training to be SPOs and are paid Rs 2,150 a month. “The government gives the ‘loyal’ inmates rice at Rs 2 per kg, free oil and onions.” The report also says that Judum members cut off the supply of provisions to villages if they refuse cooperation or resist relocation. In this period of militarisation of a local movement that worked well for the government but pushed thousands of youth being used as human shields by the CRPF in the Naxal-infested region in the state, The brothers found ways to avoid being caught up in the violence. However, due to rising conflict, they deserted the makeshift camp in Basaguda and shifted to a camp in Awapalli.
Hardship and tragedy knocked on the doors of the Chandrakar family again. The hard-earned earnings slipped after their mother was detected carrying cancer. A few years later, Kaushalya succumbed to cancer in 2009. Mukesh was 17 then.
The brothers took odd jobs in the Bastar region where employment opportunities are very few. Mukesh worked in a garage. This was likely the time when the brothers decided to shift their focus toward a new career path.
After Yukesh became a journalist, Mukesh started learning tips from him and accompanied him on assignments. A quick learner, he became a stringer for outlets like Sahara Samay, Bansal News and News 18. In 2021, Mukesh launched his YouTube channel, Bastar Junction. The issue-based authentic ground reports helped the channel to grow in a backward region where Android mobiles are still out of reach for the majority of the population, electricity supply is uneven and mobile networks are rather rare. Despite all odds, the channel grew steadily. At the time of his death, the channel had around 165,000 subscribers, a number that has since grown by about 10,000.
But the 33-year-old freelance journalist was murdered a week after a news report highlighting alleged corruption in a road construction work in Bijapur was shown. The report titled Jahan shaheed huye jawan wahan kyun ho raha hai ghatiya sadak nirman? -Why is the road quality poor where martyrs died?) Aired on NDTV on December 25, 2024, first drew local public attention and later of Government officials. Incidentally, after the news aired, an inquiry was ordered by the Government that had earlier approved the road construction project and payments were made by them.
Upset with the developments, the road construction contractor Suresh Chandrakar, hatched a conspiracy to eliminate the journalist. So a plan was made along with his brothers.
Suresh had hatched a conspiracy four to five days before the incident (January 1) along with his brothers, says the investigation done by the Special Investigation Team.
As Mukesh and Suresh were relatives, the road contractor used Ritesh, his younger brother’s friendly connection, to invite journalists to Suresh’s campsite. Both Mukesh and Ritesh have gone to Uttarakhand on a trip in 2019, says a news report, adding that they used to play badminton and spend time at the campsite located in the Chattan Para area of Bijapur. The camp site belonged to Suresh Chandrakar, the road contractor.
It was on Ritesh’s invitation over the telephone, the journalist went to have dinner at Suresh Chandrakar’s property in the Chattan Para area of Bijapur on January 1, 2025, Bijapur Police had said earlier. During the dinner, they landed in an argument with Ritesh reportedly arguing with the journalist that being a friend and a relative he should not report negatively about their road construction project. In the meanwhile, Mahendra Ramteke, who worked for Suresh as a supervisor joined Ritesh, according to the investigation.
When Mukesh did not return home in the morning and his mobile was switched off, Unkesh Chandrakar, elder brother of Mukesh lodged a missing complaint with the Bijapur Police. In his complaint, Unkesh, also a journalist, raised suspicion on Suresh Chandrakar, the road contractor.
Preliminary investigation and call details were able to connect the dots between the sudden disappearance of the journalist. His last location was found in the Chattan Para area of Bijapur where the camp site of the road contractor Suresh Chandrakar is located. Upon visiting the contractor’s premises, the police discovered freshly laid concrete over an old septic tank, Jitendra Yadav, Superintendent of Police in Bijapur told media persons.
When the fresh concrete was opened, Mukesh’s body was found in submerged water. The Police have arrested the three Chandrakar brothers, Suresh, Ritesh and Dinesh, and Mahendra Ramteke, a supervisor who works for the road contractor. The post-mortem report revealed the journalist’s skull with 15 fractures, broken five ribs, a liver split into four parts, a broken neck and damage to his heart.
Coincidentally, except for Mahendra Ramteke, the supervisor who works for the road contractor, the three brothers and Mukesh were relatives.
While many journalists operate in the region, few can act as shields to protect lives. This is possible only when you are ready to wade rivers that have bridges on record but not on the ground that has schools in villages but no teachers around and of course the villages that have all-weather roads connecting them but with no sign of roads in the ground in this part of India’s ‘red corridor’. Mukesh was of such a kind, who waded river water, reached the villages with no sign of roads settled in dense forests, and developed an understanding with security forces and Maoists in the conflict zone. In this backdrop, it reminds me of the Takalguda Naxal ambush in Bijapur in which 22 security personnel were killed. The Maoists took revenge by abducting a Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) commando.
The slain journalist played a crucial role in the release of CoBRA commando Rakeshwar Singh Manhas from Maoist captivity in April 2021. CoBRA is a specialised jungle warfare unit of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Mukesh was prepared to navigate the conflict zone in search of bitter truths, ignoring the harsh reality that it might one day cost him his life. And that was the cost freelance journalist and YouTuber, Mukesh Chandrakar had to pay. A cost for digging for the truth.
