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Bengaluru realtor murder: Karnataka HC to hear BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj’s anticipatory bail plea tomorrow

A special court had denied MLA Byrathi Basavaraj’s anticipatory bail plea in the Bikla Shiva murder case, citing the serious nature of allegations and findings presented before it.

3 min readBengaluruDec 25, 2025 04:31 PM IST

Karnataka High Court, BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, anticipatory bail,

Last week, the Karnataka High Court had set aside the invocation of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act against BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj. (File photo)

The Karnataka High Court is set to hear BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj’s anticipatory bail plea in the real estate operative V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva murder case on Friday. A vacation bench of Justice G Basavaraju will hear the matter.

Earlier, a special court for MPs and MLAs had denied a similar bail application by the KR Puram MLA.

Basavaraj’s petition before the high court seeks anticipatory bail in the event of his arrest in connection with the murder case, as well as interim bail while the proceedings before the court are ongoing.

Shiva was murdered outside his house, which falls under the jurisdiction of the Bharathinagar police station in east Bengaluru, by a gang of hired assailants. The murder allegedly had its origins in a real estate dispute between Shiva and a local gangster, Jagadish alias Jaga.

Jaga, who is allegedly associated with Basavaraj, was arrested in August after he was intercepted by Interpol in Jakarta and brought back to India. While Jaga is the main accused in the Bikla Shiva murder case, Basavaraj is accused number five.

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Last week, the Karnataka High Court had set aside the invocation of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act against Basavaraj. During the submissions, the prosecutor had stated that Basavaraj had travelled to the Kumbh Mela in February with key members of Jaga’s gang, who had flight tickets with the same PNR number.

While dismissing the application of KCOCA against Basavaraj, Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav had said that the law was invoked in the absence of evidence of continuing criminal activity by a gang, which would be shown by multiple charge sheets against a gang member, which have offences punishable for more than three years.

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Subsequent to this, the special court had denied Basavaraj’s petition for anticipatory bail in the case, citing the serious nature of allegations and findings presented before the court by the Karnataka CID.

The CID had stated before the court that after Shiva’s murder, Jaga allegedly placed a phone call to Jaga. The two had also allegedly met before Jaga fled to Dubai and then Jakarta.