Karnataka BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, accused in an organised crime-linked murder of real estate operator V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva in Bengaluru on July 15, travelled to Prayagraj for the Kumbh Mela in February with the main accused on a flight ticket with the same PNR number, the state CID informed the high court on Friday.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) B N Jagadeesh made the submission to counter Basavaraj’s claim during an earlier Bengaluru police interrogation that he had no links to the main accused, Jagadish alias Jaga, 43, a former gangster who was arrested in August after he was deported from Colombo on an Interpol notice.
Basavaraj, the 63-year-old K R Pura MLA, had filed a petition against the stringent Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Act (KCOCA) being invoked against him in Shiva’s murder. The real estate operator was murdered outside his house on a busy street near Halasuru Lake in east Bengaluru on July 15 by a gang of armed assailants. Basavaraj and Jaga were among the accused named in the FIR.
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The Karnataka CID has collected evidence that shows Basavaraj travelled on the same flight, with the same PNR number on the ticket as Jaga during a visit to the Kumbh Mela—despite claiming to have accidentally met the former gangster in Prayagraj after pictures emerged on social media. “The investigation has found that they (the MLA and the key accused Jaga) went on the same PNR number to Prayagraj. We have got information from IPDR data (internet call data) and pictures at birthdays of their association,” SPP Jagadeesh told the high court on Friday.
Shiva’s murder is alleged to have occurred over a dispute concerning a property in east Bengaluru over which two rival gangs had staked a claim of ownership. Basavaraj has claimed only a limited association as a public representative with the key accused in the murder, but the police probe has found a close association.
Soon after the murder, photographs were found on social media of Basavaraj at the Kumbh Mela with Jaga and businessman-cum-advocate A G Ajeeth Kumar, who was arrested last week and released on interim bail in the Bikla Shiva murder case on account of being an advocate.
Role of Bengaluru police officers under the scanner
On Friday, SPP Jagadeesh informed the high court that the CID was investigating the role of Bengaluru police officers in the organised crime syndicate, on account of Shiva’s complaints of threats to his life allegedly not being registered by police in the MLA’s constituency.
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“The dispute between the petitioner and the deceased began in 2024. Even though the deceased filed complaints of threats to his life no action was taken. Instead what the local police have done is that after the victim filed complaints (against the MLA and his associates) they instituted 110 CrPC (bond violation) proceedings and arrested the victim himself,” the SPP told the high court.
SPP Jagadeesh said that Basavaraj’s henchmen threatened the victim on multiple occasions that he would be killed if a property he held was not given in favour of the MLA’s associate.
“We are investigating the role of police officers in the case as well. We have recorded the statements of jurisdictional officers of the rank of DCP, ACP and Inspectors because there have been serious lapses on the part of the police. We are investigating if these were general lapses or if the police acted as accomplices,” the SPP said.
Around two months before his death, Shiva had complained at the Ramamurthy Nagar police station of a gang trying to attack him and the discovery of a vehicle and a sword. But police did not register an FIR, and instead, registered a non-cognisable report (NCR). The NCR was closed on the basis of information by the victim’s rivals on May 20, 2025, and two months later, Shiva was killed on a public street, the SPP said.
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“In this background, the case was transferred to CID. It was not for political vendetta. The victim was subjected to harassment using the state machinery and was taken into custody and thereafter he complained of threat to his life and no action was taken and he was killed,” the SPP said.
Basavaraj moved the Karnataka High Court on October 14 against the invocation of the stringent KCOCA in the murder case. He had earlier moved the court in July—soon after being named in the murder case—for quashing the complaint.
On August 13, the high court granted an order protecting the MLA from “coercive action” by the police. Last month, the CID police filed an application for removal of the protection against arrest accorded to the MLA by citing alleged non-cooperation in the investigations.
Nineteen people have been arrested so far in the Bikla Shiva murder case.