By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent Worthy News
NEW DELHI (Worthy News) – Investigators have found the body of an Indian journalist who went missing on New Year’s Day. Mukesh Chandrakar’s human remains were discovered in a septic tank in India’s Chhattisgarh state, officials said.
Police told media that his body showed signs of “severe injuries” and was discovered in the compound of a road construction contractor in Bijapur on Friday.
Chandrakar reported on corruption and the Maoist rebellion in the mineral-rich state and ran the popular YouTube video-sharing site channel Bastar Junction.
Chandrakar’s death sparked protests by journalists in the country amid broader concerns about high-level corruption and pressure on critical reporters in India.
The Press Council of India, the self-regulatory watchdog of the press, has demanded a report “on the facts of the case” from the state government.
Chhattisgarh Deputy Chief Minister Vijay Sharma pledged that a special investigation team (SIT) had been formed to probe Mukesh’s death, leading to the detention of three suspects.
However, on Tuesday, the compound owner was believed to be still on the run.
The key suspect was said to have political connections, but according to Indian media, both the Congress Party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have denied that he belongs to them.
Vishnu Deo Sai, chief minister of Chhattisgarh from the ruling BJP, described Chandrakar’s death as “heartbreaking” and promised the “harshest punishment” for those found responsible.
Yet the case has raised questions about journalists’ safety. Last year, India ranked 159th on the World Press Freedom Index, which is run by the Reporters Without Borders advocacy group.
Copyright 1999-2025 Worthy News. This article was originally published on Worthy News and was reproduced with permission.
Latest News from Worthy News
Residents on Luzon Island, the largest and most populated island of the Philippines, assessed the damage early Monday after a sleepless night when Super Typhoon Fung-wong, locally known as Uwan, killed at least two people and injured several others.
More than 50 prominent Christian leaders are calling on President Trump to directly confront Syria’s new president about the ongoing persecution of religious minorities when the two leaders meet Monday at the White House, marking a historic first for U.S.-Syria relations.
In a decisive break from Democratic obstruction that has paralyzed the federal government for over a month, the U.S. Senate on Sunday night voted 60-40 to advance legislation ending the record-breaking 40-day government shutdown, marking a significant victory for Republican fiscal discipline and President Donald Trump’s healthcare reform agenda.
A group of Hamas fighters trapped inside tunnels on the Israeli-controlled side of the Rafah ceasefire line have vowed not to surrender to Israeli forces, the Al-Qassam Brigades announced Sunday, in a move that could jeopardize the fragile month-old ceasefire in Gaza.
Archaeologists in Jerusalem have uncovered an extraordinary 2,700-year-old pottery fragment inscribed with Assyrian cuneiform near the Temple Mount — the first written evidence of direct contact between the Assyrian Empire and the Kingdom of Judah ever discovered in the city. The find, announced by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), offers striking confirmation of the biblical narrative of King Hezekiah’s resistance to Assyrian domination recorded in II Kings 18.
Iranian officials are warning of imminent water rationing—and even the potential evacuation of Tehran—as the nation faces its worst drought in nearly a century.
A Christian widow in Pakistan’s Punjab province is devastated after her married daughter went missing, while elsewhere in the region, a mother of four and a mother of six have also disappeared following alleged abductions by Muslim men, Worthy News learned Saturday.