The Karnataka Police on Tuesday arrested a “former gangster” associate of Byrathi Basavaraj, BJP MLA from Bengaluru, from Delhi in connection with the brutal murder of a realtor in east Bengaluru on July 15.
The murder accused, Jagadish Padmanabha, 42, who had fled to Dubai after the crime, is expected to be brought to Bengaluru and presented in court later in the day, said a source.
The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Karnataka Police had issued an Interpol Blue Corner Notice for Jagadish, also known as Jaga, who is an accused along with Basavaraj, in the alleged murder of V G Shivaprakash, 44, outside his residence near the Ulsoor Lake.
Jaga, who is alleged to have masterminded the murder over a property dispute with Shivaprakash, was seen fleeing his apartment in an Audi car within 30 minutes of the murder. He is alleged to have flown to the UAE from Chennai on July 18 and was reportedly traced to Thailand later.
The arrest of Jaga is expected to facilitate further investigations against Basavaraj, an MLA from the K R Pura region, who was questioned twice by the Bengaluru police after the murder and before the case was handed to the CID, the source added.
Basavaraj, who was also a former minister, was named in the First Information Report, based on a complaint by the victim’s mother and previous complaints by the victim. However, the Karnataka High Court has provided protection from arrest to the MLA following a petition for quashing of the case.
The victim, Shivaprakash, who allegedly had a dubious record of involvement in property frauds, had complained to the police and higher authorities in February about receiving threats from Jaga and his gang.
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The victim and the key accused reportedly were given legal rights by two separate owners over 1.5 acres of property valued at nearly ₹40 crore.
The CID has invoked the provisions of the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), 2000, in the murder case.
KCOCA uses stringent provisions for police custody of the arrested individuals, entails stricter norms for granting bail, provisions for using phone intercepts and police confessions as evidence, and offers 180 days for chargesheets.
Under KCOCA, a person is considered to be involved in “continuing unlawful activity” if any one person in the group of people who are accused of a crime has more than one charge sheet for similar offences filed against their name in the preceding 10 years.
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The Bengaluru police have so far arrested 16 people in connection with the murder.
Kiran K, 34, and Vimal Raj, 31 — two key henchmen of Jaga — and their associates Pradeep K, 27, Madan R, 27, Samuel V, 24, Arun Temu, 25, Naveen K, 24, have been arrested for hatching the conspiracy to execute the murder. Five people hired from the Kolar region for the murder have also been arrested, the police said.
The police have questioned Byrathi Basavaraj, even as Jaga and another “former gangster” associate of the MLA are suspected to have been fronting the BJP MLA’s property ambitions for several years.
Jagadish Padmanabha’s involvement in dacoities, robbery, murder
The name of Jagadish Padmanabha featured in the gangster lists of the police in East Bengaluru till a decade ago, before it was removed allegedly under the influence of an MLA.
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The police are investigating the calls received by the personal assistant of the MLA from the mobile phone of Jaga, soon after the murder, as well as a series of calls in the run-up to the murder between the PA of the MLA, two accused in the murder, and former gangster associates of the MLA.
The police are also examining the links between the accused gang and the property owner who was involved in the dispute with a rival claimant who was allegedly fronted by Shivaprakash.
During arguments on July 22 in an anticipatory bail plea filed by Jaga, advocates argued that there was a “political conspiracy” to implicate him in the murder case.
“There have been no cases against him since the 1990s. He was removed from the rowdy sheet for good conduct. There is only one cheating case that is pending,” senior counsel Aruna Shyam argued.
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“The state prosecutor opposed the bail plea as Jaga was already involved in past murders and robberies, and he had become wealthy and politically influential in recent times. Granting bail would hamper the investigations,” the prosecutor argued.
“The accused number one has a criminal background. His name featured earlier in the Hennur police station rowdy list. He has been involved in real estate activities. He has a history of involvement in dacoities, robbery, and murder, and has strong political backing,” the state said in submissions in the special court while listing 14 old cases against Jaga from 1995 to 2016.
The special court for elected representatives rejected the anticipatory bail plea on July 24.