NEW DELHI:  , India’s press regulator has demanded a detailed investigation after a reporter’s damaged body was found stuffed in a septic tank covered with cement.
Freelance blogger Mukesh Chandrakar, 28, had reported extensively on fraud and a decades-old Maoist insurrection in India’s northern Chhattisgarh position, and ran a popular YouTube network” Bastar Junction”.
The Press Council of India expressed” concern” over Chandrakar’s alleged murder in a statement released late on Saturday ( January 4), calling for a report on the “facts of the case.”
After police tracked Chandrakar’s cellular phone data after his family reported him missing, his body was discovered on January 3.
Three persons have been arrested.
More than 10, 000 people have died in the decades-long rebellion waged by Armed insurgents, who say they are fighting for the right of marginalised aboriginal people in India’s resource-rich key areas.
Vishnu Deo Sai, chief minister of Chhattisgarh from the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP), called Chandrakar’s death “heartbreaking” and promised the “harshest punishment” for those found responsible.
India was ranked 159 last year on the World Press Freedom Index, run by Writers Without Borders.