RAIPUR
Arang police on Friday cracked the murder case of a 46-year-old schoolteacher within 24 hours of the crime, arresting his colleague for the offense. Financial disputes arising from investments in sand mining, real estate, and bullion trading led to the murder, officers said.
The victim was identified as Shivkumar Chandrakar, a resident of Rampur Danganiya under Gobra Nawapara police station limits. His body was found on 17 September near Bancharoda village with severe injuries on the head and face caused by sharp and heavy objects.
Chandrakar and the accused, Chandraprakash Verma, worked together as teachers at a school in Kumhari village. Local villagers and a shepherd reported seeing Chandrakar riding towards Bancharoda on a white scooter with Verma shortly before the incident.
Police analysed CCTV footage from Kumhari school and scrutinised activity logs on the education department’s Vidya Samiksha Kendra (VSK) mobile application. Verma arrived at the school at 9.35am on Thursday, turned off his phone’s location services, and left under the pretext of personal work. He returned around 12.50pm and claimed he had left his phone at home, logging his attendance on the VSK app using a colleague’s mobile phone—an anomaly recorded in the app’s system logs.
Police detained Verma on 18 September. During questioning, he confessed to the crime.
Verma told police that he had known Chandrakar for four years and had lent him around ₹30 lakh for trading investments. Chandrakar had issued three signed blank cheques from Chhattisgarh Rajya Gramin Bank as security and agreed to monthly interest payments. Disputes arose after Chandrakar failed to pay interest for three consecutive months and threatened Verma.
On Thursday morning, the two met near the Patwari office outside the school to resolve the issue. The argument escalated as they rode to an isolated area in Bancharoda. Verma attacked Chandrakar with a sharp weapon kept in his scooter, knocked him down, and struck him repeatedly on the head and face with a hammer.
Police recovered the white scooter, murder weapons, three blank cheques, the victim’s wallet, mobile phones, and blood-stained clothing and shoes from the accused. Verma has been remanded in judicial custody under Section 103(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
