Property feud turns deadly: Aaj Tak reporter’s family killed in Chhattisgarh

Chhattisgarh: In a shocking incident, the parents and brother of Aaj Tak district reporter Santosh Kumar Toppo were killed in a brutal attack over a property dispute in Chhattisgarh's Surajpur district on Friday afternoon. The horrific crime highlights escalating tensions surrounding land ownership in the region.

Details of the attack

The three victims of the attack, Maghe Toppo, 57; Basanti Toppo, 55; and Naresh Toppo, 30, had been to their contested farmland at Jagannathpur to begin farming. It was around 1 p.m. when six to seven members of their family confronted them. The argument initially verbal soon took a violent turn as the assailants used axes and sticks on the victims.

Basanti and Naresh died on the spot due to severe head injuries, while Maghe was sent to Ambikapur Medical College with critical injuries and died there during treatment. Umesh Toppo, another brother of Santosh, survived and alerted others.

Police are investigating

The authorities promptly reached the crime scene, and the probe was initiated to catch those attackers who have run away after the attack. Some preliminary findings are that the piece of land had been tilled by the attackers but was lately allocated to the family of Santosh under an order issued by a court of law. The already existing rivalry between them aggravated the situation to this extreme attack on Friday.

"Efforts are being made to arrest the accused and bring them to justice," said a police official from Khargawa. Teams from Khargawa and Pratappur are actively investigating the case to uncover the full details of the incident.

Recent journalist-related violence in Chhattisgarh

This is the second journalist to be killed in less than a week. Another journalist, Mukesh Chandrakar, was killed last week for exposing corruption. His body was found in a septic tank on January 3. The main accused contractor Suresh Chandrakar was arrested on January 5.

Demands for justice

The violent killings of Santosh's family and the recent killing of Chandrakar have also raised a scandal in the media community and around the world over the increasing murders of journalists along with their relatives in Chhattisgarh.