A special court for elected representatives in Bengaluru has rejected the bail plea of actor-producer Anil Kumar who allegedly provided an SUV that was used to execute a real estate-linked murder on July 15, 2025. While rejecting the plea on December 8, the court cited prima facie evidence of “active participation” in the murder.
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Anil Kumar M alias Anil R D, 39, a small-time film producer and actor, was arrested by the Crime Investigation Department (CID) unit of the Karnataka Police on November 10 in connection with the murder of real estate operative V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva, 44. He had sought bail claiming that he was questioned and cleared earlier by the Bengaluru police.
Anil is alleged to have supplied a Scorpio SUV which was used to transport the assailants for the murder of Bikla Shiva on a busy Bengaluru street. The 2011 model white Scorpio with the registration number KA 53 P 7193 and the words ‘Army’ inscribed on it was seized by the Bengaluru police after the murder, and was found to originally belong to a person identified as Reddappa M. He had reportedly sold the car to a second-hand buyer.
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Anil was named as accused number four in the First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Bharathinagar police, which also named Byrathi Basavaraj, 63, the BJP’s K R Pura MLA; local gangster Jaga alias Jagadish P, 45; and his associates.
The prosecutor for the CID informed the court that Anil had assisted the main accused in buying the Scorpio used during the murder and that he had been seen in the company of some of the key accused a day before the murder.
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The court was apprised that the accused had a criminal background and was allegedly involved in real-estate activities to earn illegal money and “had actively participated in the company of other accused persons prior to commission of the murder.” Anil is also alleged to have fled to Tamil Nadu and deactivated his phone after the murder.
The murder, subsequent arrests
Realtor Bikla Shiva was killed outside his house on a public street near the Halasuru Lake on the evening of July 15 by a gang of armed assailants. The murder is alleged to be linked to a property dispute dating back to February 2025 between two groups staking claim to a property in the Kithaganur area of East Bengaluru.
Jagadish P alia Jaga, the gang leader who fled from India to Dubai soon after the murder, was nabbed in Jakarta by Interpol on the basis of a Blue Corner Notice issued at the instance of the Karnataka CID police, and was brought back to India and arrested on August 26.
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The CID has invoked the stringent Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000, in connection with the Bikla Shiva murder.
On November 10, the CID arrested Anil as well as realtor, advocate and film producer A G Ajeeth Kumar, 48, in connection with the murder, taking the total number of people arrested in the case to 20. While Ajeeth was released the same day on a personal bond, Anil continues to remain in judicial custody.
The key accused, Jagadish and Ajeeth, are reported to be closely associated with MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, who has been protected from arrest by an August 12 order of the Karnataka High Court directing the police not to take “coercive action” against the legislator.