The Betrayal Within the Newsroom: The Chilling Murder of Kanpur Journalist Brijesh Gupta
BK Singh
KANPUR: It began like any other day for 26-year-old Brijesh Gupta, a young and ambitious television journalist whose bylines were slowly making waves in Kanpur’s bustling media scene.
But by nightfall, Brijesh would vanish without a trace — only to be found the next morning, lifeless in his own car, his body wrapped in cloth, riddled with wounds from sharp and blunt weapons.
Sixteen years later, the echoes of that night still haunt the city’s media corridors. And now, after years of delay, a Kanpur court has finally delivered justice — sentencing four people, including Brijesh’s colleague and her two brothers, to life imprisonment for his cold-blooded murder.
A Friendship Turned Fatal
Brijesh worked as a journalist for a local TV channel — energetic, ambitious, and sometimes outspoken. Among his colleagues was Kanika Grover, a newsreader who often appeared beside him in the newsroom.
What began as a professional rapport soon soured into personal tension. According to investigators, Brijesh had allegedly been harassing Kanika, and the conflict had spilled beyond the workplace.
By June 2009, relations between the two had reached a breaking point. On June 13, Brijesh told his brother Prabhat Gupta that he was going to drop Kanika and her brother’s home — a routine gesture he had made before. He never returned.
The Discovery That Shocked Kanpur
The next morning, a resident of Ratanlal Nagar noticed a car parked suspiciously for hours. It had a “Press” sticker on the windshield — an odd sight in a quiet residential lane. When police arrived and opened the door, what they found froze everyone in their tracks.
Inside lay Brijesh’s body — brutally beaten, stabbed, and bludgeoned. His clothes were soaked in blood. His licensed pistol and gold ornaments were missing. It was a murder marked by rage — the kind that leaves behind chaos, not calculation.
Unmasking the Killers
The investigation that followed uncovered a web of deceit and betrayal. The main accused was none other than Kanika Grover, the same newsreader who had once worked side by side with Brijesh.
Alongside her were her brothers Sunny and Moni (also called Munny), and their friend Surjeet Singh alias Shunty — all now convicted of murder under Section 302 of the IPC.
Two others — Kanika’s mother, Alka Grover, and her uncle, Rajeev Kumar alias Bunty — played quieter but crucial roles. They were convicted of destroying evidence, attempting to erase traces of blood and crime before the police could arrive.
The investigation revealed that Brijesh was killed inside Kanika’s house, after which the group wrapped his body, placed it in his car, and drove it under the cover of night to Ratanlal Naga, where they abandoned the vehicle before fleeing.
The crime was not impulsive, police said. It was calculated revenge — born out of deep resentment. Kanika’s family allegedly believed that Brijesh had not only been tormenting her but had also falsely implicated her father, Rajendra Grover, in a criminal case. That festering anger finally exploded into violence.
A Sixteen-Year Struggle for Justice
The wheels of justice turned painfully slow. The case lingered for years, witnesses came and went, and the accused remained free on bail. But the evidence — forensic traces, confessions, and testimonies — eventually pieced together the grim puzzle.
When the verdict was read out in October 2025, the courtroom was heavy with silence. Kanika Grover, her brothers Sunny and Moni, and their friend Surjeet Singh were sentenced to life imprisonment. Her mother and uncle received five years in jail for tampering with evidence.
As the convicts were led away, Brijesh’s family — who had fought a lonely battle for sixteen years — wept quietly. “Justice has come late, but it has come,” said his brother, Prabhat.
The Shadows Behind the Screen
The murder of Brijesh Gupta remains one of the most chilling crimes in Uttar Pradesh’s media history — a story of rivalry, obsession, and vengeance that blurred the line between newsroom drama and real-life horror.
The case exposed how personal grudges can fester in professional spaces, and how the same hands that once held microphones could also wield weapons of death.
It also reignited debates about journalist safety, toxic workplace dynamics, and the slow grind of India’s justice system — where truth sometimes takes decades to find its voice.
Sixteen years later, Brijesh’s murder is no longer just a headline. It’s a haunting reminder of how betrayal, ego, and silence can conspire to end a promising life — and how justice, though delayed, still has the power to speak.
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