Bengaluru Real Estate Murder Case: Advocate and BJP MLA Associate Granted Bail

A businessman-advocate, named as an accused in a Bengaluru real estate-linked murder case, was granted bail this week on the grounds that the co-accused did not directly implicate him in the murder.

A G Ajeeth Kumar, 48, who has a criminal history in Bengaluru, was arrested by the CID unit of the Karnataka Police on February 12 in connection with the murder of real estate operative V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva, 44. Shiva was murdered on July 15, 2025, in east Bengaluru over a property dispute.

A special court for hearing cases involving elected representatives—earlier granted bail to BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj in the same case on March 12 by citing a lack of evidence of direct involvement—granted bail to Kumar on March 24, citing “the absence of any statements being rendered by the co-accused or that of the witnesses about the incriminating act against the petitioner…”.

The CID had alleged that Kumar played a pivotal role in the murder conspiracy as a real estate business associate of Basavaraj, and former gangster Jagadish P alias Jaga, who is alleged to have assembled a gang to execute the Bikla Shiva murder. Kumar, who was involved in producing a Kannada film, was arrested on February 12 after a special court cancelled the interim bail granted in November 2025.

The special court granted bail to Kumar on Tuesday on the condition that the accused appear before the investigating agency whenever summoned and that he would not leave Bengaluru without the court’s permission. Basavaraj and Kumar were earlier granted protection from arrest. However, the Supreme Court rejected Basavaraj’s anticipatory bail plea on February 12, and a special court in Bengaluru cancelled Kumar’s protection on the same day.

Bikla Shiva was hacked to death outside his home in east Bengaluru on the evening of July 15, 2025, by a gang of assailants over a real estate dispute with members of a criminal gang associated with Basavaraj and involved in the real estate business in east Bengaluru. BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj was named in the murder First Information Report on the basis of a complaint by Shiva’s mother. She alleged that her son had been receiving threats from the MLA and his associates in a dispute over a 12 gunta property in Kithaganur, east Bengaluru.

The alleged role of Ajeeth Kumar alias Malayali Ajeeth, who is a close associate of the MLA, emerged during the probe. The CID identified Kumar, who claimed shelter from arrest as the advocate for the main accused Jaga, as being an integral part of the gang involved in the conspiracy to murder Shiva. The CID has alleged that Call Detail Records (CDR) analysis and tower location analysis had shown that Kumar was in the company of several key accused on the day of the murder.

The CID had originally arrested Kumar, who is named as accused number 20 in the murder case, on November 10, 2025, after investigations allegedly revealed that he provided financial and logistical support to the main accused both before and after the crime. He was, however, released on interim bail after he claimed the privileges of being an advocate on record in the high court for Jaga. While rejecting Kumar’s anticipatory bail plea on March 12, the court had stated that his role had prima facie gone beyond providing legal advice to the accused and entered the territory of participation in the conspiracy for the crime.