New Year has brought sad news for the Indian media fraternity as a young scribe was found murdered in Bijapur locality of Chhattisgarh State on Friday. Local media persons informed that the body of journalist Mukesh Chandrakar was recovered from a newly constructed septic tank belonging to an influential contractor based in Chattanpara area.  Mukesh (30), who made daring media reports on corruption and insurgency in central India, went missing on 1 January 2025 and his family members lodged a police complaint. A seasoned journalist, Mukesh used to run a YouTube channel named Bastar Junction and enjoyed millions of views.

“It’s unfortunate that a young media person is seemingly targeted for his string reporting on powerful corrupt people.  Incidentally,  Mukesh Chandrakar becomes the first journalist to be killed this year across the world. We demand a fair probe to identify the culprits behind his killing and subsequent punishment under the law. PEC urges Chhattisgarh chief minister Vishnu Deo Sai to take personal interest to deliver justice to the bereaved scribe’s family as early as possible,” commented PEC president Blaise Lempen.

PEC’s south Asia representative Nava Thakuria informed that  Mukesh worked in several media outlets including a satellite news channel. He made a mark in investigative journalism while reporting on misappropriation of funds in various government projects in his locality. The courageous journalist also faced wrath from the ultra left insurgents, who remained active in Bastar district, and finally Mukesh established himself as a strong voice for the deprived section in the society.

The  global casualty of media workers reached 179 in 2024 across 25 countries. India maintained the number of journo-murders within 4 which is one more than the casualty reported in 2023. All the media victims reported last year from the central Indian region, where  Uttar Pradesh witnessed the killing of two journalists (Ashutosh Srivastava and Dilip Saini), followed by Bihar (Shivshankar Jha) and Madhya Pradesh (Salman Ali Khan).