A brutal murder in Bengaluru casts light on the inner workings of the city’s real estate mafias | Bangalore News

The weird factor concerning the Bikla Shiva homicide case was, nevertheless, the naming of four-time legislator Byrathi Basavaraj, 59, who at present represents the BJP from the Ok R Pura constituency in east Bengaluru, as an accused inside two hours of the homicide.

The Bengaluru police First Info Report (FIR) within the Bikla Shiva homicide case has named the BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj’s shut affiliate and gangster Jagadish Padmanabha alias Jaga, 42, as accused primary (A1), three henchmen of the gangster as A2, A3, A4, and the MLA himself as A5.

Whereas Bengaluru MLAs slicing throughout events, who’ve been elected repeatedly over the past 20 years, have been linked to the management of actual property actions via prison gangs, particularly in quickly urbanising areas on the fringes of town, elected representatives themselves have not often been instantly linked to gangland murders for dominance in the actual property enterprise in Bengaluru.

The Bikla Shiva homicide and its investigations have most likely revealed for the primary time the interior workings of actual property mafias within the metropolis and their connections to political benefactors.

The land dispute resulting in the homicide

The investigations because the homicide has discovered that the 44-year-old Bikla Shiva complained on a number of events this yr to the Bengaluru police of being harassed by a gang led by former historical past sheeter Jagadish P alias Jaga, an affiliate of the Ok R Pura BJP MLA, over a 12 acre property on survey quantity 212, in Kithaganur, on the japanese fringe of town.

The Kithaganur space is a fast-developing area of east Bengaluru the place the price of land for an acre has gone from the vary of Rs 8 to 10 crore to Rs 20 crore within the final couple of years, following the development of a piece of a Satellite tv for pc Ring Street for the outskirts of Bengaluru which touches Kithaganur (NH 648). A bit close to Kithaganur was opened in March 2024.

BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj (left) and homicide sufferer V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva (Specific picture)

With the survey quantity 212 of Kithaganur rising as a disputed property with unclear titles for the unique homeowners, actual property gamers like Bikla Shiva and Jagadish allegedly swooped in to take management of the land and obtained normal energy of legal professional (GPA) from the unique claimants of the land.

In a criticism to the Bengaluru police in February this yr, Bikla Shiva claimed that his pal (Parthiban) purchased the land in 2023 from the unique proprietor, Singa Reddy, and later transferred the GPA rights for the land to him. The rival gang of Jagadish alias Jaga is alleged to have obtained a GPA from a second department of the household of the unique homeowners.

Bikla Shiva alleged in a criticism to the Bharathinagar police on February 21 that the gang of Jagadish alias Jaga arrived on the property on February 11, 2025, and demolished constructions like a boundary wall and a shed that he had constructed to assert the disputed property.

Quickly after the February 11 incident, Shiva allegedly started receiving calls from Jagadish at hand over the GPA for the land with threats of homicide if he didn’t comply and the rival gang additionally allegedly threatened Shiva on February 20 outdoors a financial institution close to his home.

The first foundation on which the Bengaluru police named the prime accused, together with the BJP MLA of Ok R Pura, within the homicide of Bikla Shiva, inside a couple of hours of the homicide on July 15, is the February 21 criticism of Bikla Shiva, a Bengaluru police officer mentioned.

“On the premise of a February 21 criticism, the prime accused within the July 15 homicide case was recognized. Though a police FIR was registered at Bharatinagar on the premise of the February 21 criticism, the investigations have been stalled by a excessive court docket keep order (on February 26) and the sufferer filed one other petition in March in Ramamurthy Nagar,” police sources mentioned.

In accordance with the police, the title of the BJP MLA was added within the FIR after Vijayalakshmi, the 68-year-old mom of Bikla Shiva – who claimed to have witnessed the homicide from the balcony of her home – mentioned her son had been complaining about receiving threats from the shut associates of the MLA. She later denied naming the MLA.

Bengaluru police investigation

Within the 10 days because the homicide of Bikla Shiva, the police have arrested a complete of 16 individuals employed from the Kolar area to execute the homicide and a number of other henchmen of Jagadish alias Jaga from the Ok R Pura, Ramamurthy Nagar of east Bengaluru.

Kiran Ok, 34, and Vimal Raj, 31 – two key henchmen of Jagadish – Pradeep Ok, 27, Madan R, 27, Samuel V, 24, Arun Temu, 25, Naveen Ok, 24 are the lads arrested for planning, watching over the actions of Bikla Shiva, and taking part within the homicide. The henchmen of Jaga – Kiran and Raj – are concerned in a number of assaults and makes an attempt to homicide in east Bengaluru, in accordance with their police data.

5 individuals – Avinash Dinnahalli, Sudarshan, Murugesh, Narasimha, and Kiran – from Tekal village in Malur within the neighbouring Kolar district have been arrested for allegedly executing the homicide. They have been allegedly delivered to town and housed on July 14 to execute the homicide on July 15. The core gang members of Jagadish offered cowl and logistical help.

Homicide sufferer Bikla Shiva (carrying a cap) was allegedly threatened by a member of the gang run by Jagadish alias Jaga who’re accused of finishing up the homicide. (Specific picture)

“The 4 males from Kolar have been employed with a suggestion of Rs 20 lakh every and have been paid an preliminary quantity of Rs 1.5 lakh together with the promise of life settlement. The individuals who stored a watch on Bikla Shiva’s actions since February have been paid Rs 30,000 every. A variety of funding has gone into the homicide,” police sources mentioned.

The primary accused within the homicide, Jagadish alias Jaga, who featured in gangster lists in east Bengaluru until a decade in the past – earlier than being eliminated allegedly underneath the affect of an MLA – is alleged to have fled to Dubai by way of Chennai quickly after the homicide. CCTV visuals gathered from his condo block present him leaving in an Audi automobile inside 10 minutes of the homicide.

BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj – who is taken into account the primary benefactor of Jagadish alias Jaga’s gang in east Bengaluru – has in the meantime been questioned twice by the police about his affiliation with the homicide plot. “Now we have gathered technical proof to hyperlink the MLA to the accused within the homicide,” a Bengaluru police officer mentioned.

The police have been investigating calls acquired by a private assistant (PA) of the MLA from the cell phone of Jagadish quickly after the homicide was executed in addition to a sequence of calls within the run as much as the homicide between the PA of the MLA, two of the accused within the homicide – the lacking Jagadish and the arrested Kiran Ok – and Ajith Kumar, a former gangster affiliate of the MLA who was linked up to now to a number of actual property and different crimes in east Bengaluru.

“We’re going to query a number of people who find themselves related to the MLA and the primary accused within the subsequent few days,” a police officer mentioned previous to the case being transferred to the Prison Investigation Division of the Karnataka Police by the state authorities on July 24.

The Bengaluru police have issued notices to A G Ajith Kumar, 45 – a recognized affiliate of Byrathi Basavaraju whose title was faraway from the east Bengaluru gangster lists on the orders of the Karnataka excessive court docket in 2013; and to a private assistant of the MLA whose cell phone is suspected to have been used to make encrypted calls to the gangsters.

Police searches on the residence of Kiran Ok, one of many henchmen of Jagadish alias Jaga arrested for the Bikla Shiva homicide, are reported to have offered results in Ajith Kumar.

Ajith Kumar, who’s often known as Malayali Ajith and is now a lawyer, is taken into account an enormous actual property operative in east Bengaluru. Ajith Kumar and Jaga have been collectively accused of the homicide of journey company employee Anil Kumar in Ok R Pura in 2008.

An affiliate of the duo, Chandrashekhar Achari, who was additionally accused within the 2008 homicide and was aspiring to change into a Bengaluru metropolis councillor, was shot lifeless in Rajgad close to Pune in 2015 by unknown assailants.

“All these guys are alleged brokers of the present MLA. They function with impunity within the area. This is among the most harmful mafias in Bengaluru,” a former Bengaluru organised crime squad police official mentioned.

“The true property mafias have divided up town for his or her operations. There’s a gang chief for central and south Bengaluru, there’s a gang chief for the west and northern components, they usually function underneath the safety of the native MLAs. A few of them change into white collar operators,” a serving police officer mentioned.

In a single occasion within the 2018-19 interval, the organised crime unit of the Bengaluru police was on the doorstep of a former Ok R Pura gangster, as a way to arrest him for prison actions, however was known as again by senior officers, in accordance with many law enforcement officials conscious of the incident.

Within the Bikla Shiva homicide case, the Bengaluru police expressed intent to take investigations to their logical conclusion earlier than the case was transferred to the CID on July 24.

“The Bengaluru police have taken the problem of the Bharathinagar homicide very critically. This can be a brutal homicide. We can not talk about the investigations intimately at current. We’re working diligently to establish these concerned within the homicide,” Bengaluru police commissioner Seemanth Kumar Singh acknowledged on July 22.

Homicide motive

In accordance with police sources, the first motive for the gang of Jagadish alias Jaga to execute the homicide of Bikla Shiva was the notion that Shiva was a challenger to the profitable actual property enterprise being eyed by Jaga and his benefactors in east Bengaluru.

Bikla Shiva’s interference in disputed properties and tendency to lift complaints with excessive officers in Bengaluru was thought-about a hindrance to the actual property actions of the gang.

“The homicide was basically about space dominance. Bikla Shiva was like a rogue elephant who was interfering in the actual property actions of Jagadish in east Bengaluru whereas Jagadish (and his benefactors) have been making an attempt to determine dominance,” police sources mentioned.

One of many different provocations for the homicide of Bikla Shiva by the gang of Jagadish, police sources mentioned, was the emergence of a video on social media of a confrontation between Bikla Shiva and Jagadish. The video posted by Bikla Shiva portrayed Jagadish as a land grabber in Bengaluru, and this angered Jagadish, sources mentioned.

Within the video of the confrontation, Jagadish’s gang is heard talking in Tamil and telling Bikla Shiva, who stands silently, that there may be just one Don for the area, and it’s Jaga.

Whereas Bikla Shiva was reportedly not concerned in organised crime, he was a part of the rowdy checklist in east Bengaluru for his actual property actions of making faux paperwork and staking declare on properties with a small gang at his command.

Bikla Shiva himself was a associate in an actual property agency known as Excessive Level (Promoters and Builders) Ltd and the proprietor of one other agency known as Peacock Enterprises. He was earlier linked to the MLA Byrathi Basavaraj however didn’t make it to his interior circle, police sources mentioned.

One of the crucial excessive profile cases of Bikla Shiva’s fraudulent actual property actions occurred in 2018-2019 when he was accused of acquiring a main property on the Ulsoor Street within the coronary heart of Bengaluru after a gang used impersonation and cast paperwork to assert possession of the land and an outdated home which belonged to a Dubai-based household from Kerala.

Bikla Shiva, who initially obtained the GPA for the land for Rs 50 lakh, is alleged to have offered the land for Rs 3 crore to a member of the household that owns the Status Group – Bengaluru’s largest actual property firm.

An FIR was registered towards Bikla Shiva and others for dishonest and fraud initially by the unique proprietor, Jebby Joseph, in January 2019 and, subsequently, one other FIR was filed in 2022 by Uzma Irfan from the Status Group on the premise of a court docket order towards Bikla Shiva and 9 others. The Ulsoor Street land was finally offered by the unique proprietor to the Status Group for Rs 6 crore, in accordance with official authorized data within the public area.

Bikla Shiva was additionally equally concerned in 2018 in forcibly occupying a disputed property in Hennur in east Bengaluru with paperwork claimed to have been obtained within the title of his mom from a GPA holder for the land. He was evicted from the land following court docket orders obtained by the unique claimant, Venkatarama Reddy.

On February 25, this yr – shortly after Bikla Shiva had filed a criticism on February 21 within the Bharathinagar police station over threats acquired from Jagadish alias Jaga over the Kithaganur property dispute – the Bengaluru east police issued an order for detaining Bikla Shiva for violation of a bond dated March 26, 2024, and persevering with in unlawful actual property actions.

Bikla Shiva was accused of being concerned in unlawful makes an attempt to assert properties within the Mahadevapura area in 2024, regardless of signing a bond earlier than the police in March 2024 to chorus from involvement in unlawful actions sooner or later.

Shiva approached a civil court docket concerning the February 25 detention order of the police, claiming the police had focused him for submitting a criticism towards the Jagadish alias Jaga gang on February 21. The civil court docket rejected the plea on March 28.

BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj on being linked to the homicide

In the meantime, photos have emerged within the public area of the BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj within the firm of the alleged gangster Jagadish alias Jaga at a number of occasions up to now. The MLA has denied any shut affiliation with the previous rowdy sheeter past political acquaintance.

“I’ve already mentioned that I’m not related to this crime. I’m an elected consultant and tons of of individuals come to get their photos clicked with me. No affiliation may be drawn by my presence in photos,” Byrathi Basavaraj mentioned after the police quizzed him on July 23.

“There may be an FIR they usually have known as me and I’ve replied to their questions. I have no idea something concerning the land or who this Shivaprakash is?  If he had approached me earlier and instructed me that my persons are inflicting issues, I might have spoken to him and tried to resolve the problems,” the BJP MLA claimed.

“He has gone and given an unsubstantiated criticism towards me, however the police by no means known as me for questioning or something earlier. If the police had known as me, I might have dealt with this earlier. Petitions got (by Bikla Shiva) to the CM, DCM, Speaker, the DGP and police commissioner however nothing occurred,” the MLA mentioned.

Byrathi Basavaraj, who belongs to the OBC Kuruba neighborhood like Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was initially related to the Congress firstly of his political profession. He was beforehand a metropolis councillor from Ok R Pura, earlier than he was elected to the legislative meeting for the primary time in 2013 on a Congress ticket.

He was re-elected on a Congress ticket in 2018 however shifted to the BJP in 2019. Byrathi Basavaraj was amongst 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs who toppled a Congress-JD(S) alliance authorities in Karnataka by shifting to the BJP in 2019. He was made the city improvement minister within the B S Yediyurappa-led authorities after successful a Ok R Pura bypoll in 2019.

Basavaraj received the Ok R Pura seat for the fourth time in 2023 on a BJP ticket, however the BJP misplaced the meeting to the Congress. Basavaraj’s cousin, Byrathi Suresh, a detailed affiliate of Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah and a Congress MLA from the Hebbal seat, received the city improvement portfolio after the formation of the brand new authorities.

In accordance with election affidavits filed by Byrathi Basavaraj for the 2013, 2018 and 2023 polls, his wealth has practically tripled within the interval that he has been an MLA, from Rs 46 crore to Rs 122 crore, with practically Rs 85 crore of belongings being within the type of actual property.

Byrathi Basavaraj is the second highly effective Bengaluru BJP MLA to return underneath the scanner of the police for alleged prison actions throughout the tenure of the Congress authorities. Final yr, the BJP MLA from the RR Nagar constituency in west Bengaluru, Munirathna Naidu, who additionally switched from the Congress to the BJP in 2019, was arrested for rape.

Within the Bikla Shiva homicide case, there are options of a political conspiracy and indicators of one other entrance being opened within the inner energy struggles inside the Congress as effectively. A CID probe ordered by the Congress authorities is seen as giving a breather to Byrathi Basavaraj from the hazard of any instant arrest for him and his shut associates.

The argument of the prime accused

Throughout arguments on July 22 in an anticipatory bail plea filed by the lacking Jagadish alias Jaga, the advocates for the prime suspect argued that there was a “political conspiracy” to implicate the previous rowdy sheeter within the Bikla Shiva homicide case.

“There have been no instances towards him because the Nineteen Nineties. He was faraway from the rowdy sheet for good conduct. There is just one dishonest case that’s pending,” senior counsel Aruna Shyam argued.

The state prosecutor opposed the bail plea on the grounds that Jagadish was concerned in previous murders and robberies and that he had change into rich and politically influential in latest instances. Granting bail would hamper the investigations, the prosecutor argued.

“The accused primary has a prison background. His title featured earlier within the Hennur police station rowdy checklist. He has been concerned in actual property actions. He has a historical past of involvement in dacoities, theft and homicide and has robust political backing,” the state mentioned in submissions within the particular court docket whereas itemizing 14 instances towards Jaga from 1995 to 2016.

The particular court docket for elected representatives rejected the anticipatory bail plea on July 24.