Bengaluru realtor murder: Businessman-advocate linked to MLA Byrathi Basavaraj arrested

Basavaraj was named in the FIR after Shiva’s mother lodged a complaint alleging that he had been receiving threats from the MLA and his associates over a 12-gunta property dispute in Kithaganur.

Ajeeth Kumar claimed shelter from arrest citing advocate credentials

The CID had originally arrested Kumar on November 10, 2025, after investigations allegedly revealed that the businessman-advocate provided financial and logistical support to the main accused both before and after the crime. He was, however, released on interim bail after he claimed the privileges of being an advocate on record in the high court for Jagadish P alias Jaga, a former gangster associated with Basavaraj and the main accused in the case.

According to the CID, Kumar is an integral part of the gang involved in the conspiracy to murder Shiva.

“The regular bail application filed by the petitioner/accused No.20 Ajeeth under Sec.483 of Bharatiya Nagarika Suraksha Sanhita-2023 is hereby dismissed. Needless to mention the interim order granted stands vacated and the accused No.20 is hereby directed to surrender forthwith before the jurisdictional police and in default of the same, the investigating Agency are at liberty to proceed in accordance with law,” a special court for cases against elected representatives said in its bail rejection order for Kumar on Thursday.

The court passed the order on the basis of new material placed in the court by the CID Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ashok Naik to reveal that Call Detail Record (CDR) analysis and tower location analysis had shown that Kumar was in the company of several key accused on the day of the murder and was an integral part of the murder conspiracy.

Kumar, who has a real estate business, allegedly financed Jaga through the course of planning and executing the murder and also facilitated his escape from India to Dubai soon after the murder, CID sources said. Jaga was nabbed on the basis of an Interpol Blue Corner notice in Jakarta and was arrested by the CID in Delhi in August 2025.

On Thursday, the special court stated that Kumar’s role had prima facie gone beyond providing legal advice to the accused and entered the territory of participation in the conspiracy for the crime.

“Since it is noticed from the recent CD files which is furnished by the IO about the incriminating materials available against him and also in the wake of the CDR analysis report furnished by the investigating agency, the court is of the opinion that no infringement of liberty pertaining to the present accused person has taken place,” the special court said.

The court said that materials placed in court by the prosecution “does indicate that the present accused was acquainted with accused No.1 and just prior to the incident he had travelled with accused No.1 and also on the date of incident the tower location of all the accused persons as per the CD furnished by the Investigating Officer would involve the same tower location which requires to be determined only during the course of investigation”.

What the CID told the court

The CID told the court that Kumar, who was a rowdy sheeter in Bengaluru between 1999 to 2016, used the mobile phones of his office staff to communicate with Jaga and others for the murder conspiracy.

“It is also submitted that accused No.5 (MLA Byrathi Basavaraj) and accused No.20 (Ajeeth) along with accused No.1 (Jaga) have travelled in a same flight to participate in Kumbh Mela in Prayagraj on 10.02.2025 on the day on which a quarrel had taken place between the followers of accused No.1 and deceased Bikla Shiva…,” the court noted.

“In the latest CD files which is furnished by the Investigating Agency, it has been specifically narrated that accused No.1 and accused No.20 were both involved in a murder case in the year 2008 and from that point of time they were known to each other and were doing the real estate business together,” the court noted.

The case diary files also indicated from the CDR analysis “that on the date of incident the other accused persons had all assembled in the very same tower location of accused No.20 and at that time accused No.1 Jagadish had also visited the office of accused No.20 and had discussions with him for about 2 to 3 hours,” the special court noted.

CID to seek 10 days’ police custody of two accused

Following the twin arrests of Basavaraj and Kumar, the CID is set to seek 10 days of police custody of the two accused in the murder case in order to complete the probe that has been on for nearly eight months.

The CID earlier filed a chargesheet against 18 of the 20 accused in the murder case in December, with the exception of Basavaraj and Kumar.

The police have informed the courts that the murder had its origins in a dispute dating back to February 2025, when a claimant to a property, identified as Ravi, contacted accused No.2 Kiran K stating that Shiva had illegally built a compound wall for four 30 x 40 sites on 12 guntas of land belonging to the claimant in Kithaganur.

The claimant alleged that Shiva was verbally abusing accused No.1 Jagadish alias Jaga, who is closely associated with Basavaraj, who claimed the land on behalf of Ravi. After a series of confrontations between the Jaga gang and Shiva for dominance in the region, the former plotted the latter’s murder, it is alleged.