A Special Investigation Team of the Karnataka Crime Investigation Department (CID) Monday filed a chargesheet against 18 people, who are part of a gang allegedly linked to Bengaluru BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj, in the July 15 murder case of a real estate operative.
The SIT filed the chargesheet after the Karnataka High Court on Friday set aside the state police’s order invoking the stringent Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA), 2000, against Basavaraj for the murder of realtor V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva, 44, allegedly over a property dispute in east Bengaluru. The court had noted that the police action against the K R Pura MLA was not in accordance with the prescribed norms for applying the stringent crime control law.
“The chargesheet running into 4,236 pages and 13 volumes was filed on Monday evening. The court has posted the matter for hearing on Tuesday,” sources said.
The High Court ruling of December 19 had set the ground for all the accused people arrested between July and August 2025 in the murder case to seek default bail on the grounds of the police not filing a chargesheet within the time limit of 90 days prescribed under the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) as opposed to 180 days for KCOCA.
The chargesheet has been filed for the offence of murder and criminal conspiracy against Jagadish P alias Jaga, 45, a gangster who is closely associated with the BJP MLA and his associates, who planned the murder, and a hired gang from Kolar, which executed the murder of Bikla Shiva.
The chargesheet has not been filed against two of the accused persons in the case – the BJP MLA, who has sought anticipatory bail but has been elusive, and a former gangster-turned-realtor and advocate Ajeeth Kumar, who was arrested in November for funding and providing logistics for the murder but was released on a personal bond by a special court.
The HC on December 19 also cancelled the temporary protection from arrest accorded to Basavaraj, even as SIT had launched a search for the MLA.
The chargesheet has indicated that further investigations against the two key accused men are pending, sources said.
The SIT is likely to file an appeal in the Supreme Court against the HC order to strike down the invocation of KCOCA in the case by pointing out that the HC erred in its judgment despite the murder case fitting the bill for invocation of KCOCA – since several key accused are accused in multiple criminal cases of a serious nature entailing punishment of upto 10 years in prison.
All 18 accused who are in judicial custody have sought to be released on statutory bail following the HC’s order of December 19.
The extended judicial custody of the accused beyond 90 days had been allowed by the Karnataka HC as recently as November 28, by upholding an October 17 order of a special court for elected representatives for a 45-day extension of the judicial custody of five accused persons. The special court also issued orders for a 30-day extension of custody on November 28.
Bikla Shiva was killed outside his house on a street near Halasuru Lake on July 15 by 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.
Following the murder, the police named the BJP MLA as accused number five in the First Information Report (FIR), and his close associate Jagadish Padmanabha alias Jaga, 45, as the main accused along with his gang members Vimal Raj, Kiran Krishna, Madan K, and Pradeep K.
On July 16, a day after the murder, five men — Kiran Krishna, Pradeep, Vimal Raj, Madan K, and Samuel Victor surrendered before the police, claiming to be involved in the murder.
On September 24, a special court, while rejecting the bail pleas by some of the 20 accused persons in the murder case, had upheld the invocation of KCOCA by the SIT. The invocation of KCOCA was, however, challenged in the HC by Basavaraj.
The police have informed the courts that the murder had its origins in a dispute when a claimant to a property identified as Ravi contacted accused No 2, Kiran K, stating that realtor Bikla Shiva had illegally built a compound wall for four 30 x 40 sites belonging to the claimant.
The claimant alleged that Bikla Shiva was verbally abusing accused No.1 Jagadish alias Jaga, a local gangster closely associated with BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraja. The murder was plotted by the Jaga gang following a series of confrontations between Jaga’s gang and Bikla Shiva for dominance in the region, it is alleged.
Jaga had fled to Dubai soon after the murder but was nabbed in Jakarta by Interpol based on a Blue Corner notice issued at the instance of the CID and was brought to India and arrested on August 26.