Bengaluru Real Estate Operator Murder: Police Search Properties Linked to Businessman

The Karnataka Police on Friday conducted searches at properties linked to a former gangster-turned-businessman, advocate, and film producer in connection with the July 15 murder of a real estate operator in Bengaluru over an alleged property dispute where a BJP MLA is also linked.

The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) conducted searches at properties of A G Ajeeth Kumar, 45, a former Bengaluru gangster whose name appeared in the Ramamurthy Nagar police station’s rowdy list from 2010 to 2016. His name was later removed following directions from the Karnataka High Court. At the time, he was infamously known as ‘Malayali Ajeeth’.

Kumar, who is the chairman of real estate firm V Group, is an advocate and the producer of a 2022 big-budget Kannada film, Ravi Bopanna. He is also a close associate of former gangster, Jagadish P alias Jaga, 43, the main accused in the July 15 murder of V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva, 44, on a busy street in Bengaluru.

Sources said the search operations were “conducted on the basis of search warrants obtained from a special court” in Bengaluru earlier this week. The searches are linked to investigations of Kumar’s association with Jaga and his possible involvement in the murder conspiracy, sources added.

Jaga was arrested on August 24 in Delhi after he was detained and sent back from Bangkok on the basis of an Interpol Blue Corner Notice—issued on the request of the CID—after he fled from Bengaluru soon after Shiva’s murder via Chennai and Dubai.

Both Jaga and Kumar are considered to be close to Byrathi Basavaraj, the BJP MLA from the K R Pura region of Bengaluru. Several pictures on social media and the public domain indicate a connection between the trio. Kumar, who is the promoter of a real estate project in east Bengaluru, and Jaga are known to operate in Basavaraj’s constituency. Basavaraj is among the five accused named in the FIR for Shiva’s murder.

Jaga and Kumar’s presence at launch events for Ravi Bopanna, starring Kannada star Ravichandran, who is also the film-maker, is also recorded on social media. Kumar has also acted as a legal representative for Jaga since August.

The police are investigating the possibility of a gang led by Jaga being a front for the real estate activities of other associates, including Basavaraj, by providing finances and protection.

The CID has invoked the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act, 2000, in the Bikla Shiva murder case. With the murder involving an organised crime syndicate (as identified under the stringent KCOCA law) and with an MLA being accused in the case, the matter is before a special court for elected representatives instead of a special KCOCA court.

The KCOCA law can be invoked against all members of an organised crime syndicate if two members of the syndicate have more than one criminal charge sheet against them, and this has been taken cognisance of by the courts in recent times. Two members of the Jaga gang were found to have multiple recent chargesheets, prosecution sources said.

Associates of the crime syndicate who provide support in terms of finance and logistics can also be booked under KCOCA, which also allows confessions made by accused before high-ranking police officers to be used as evidence.

The special court for elected representatives was told last week by the special public prosecutor that the 16 people arrested so far for the execution of the murder were Jaga’s proxies.

While Jaga has been in judicial custody since September 8, the five-day CID custody of four accused—Kiran K, Vimal Raj, Samuel Victor, and Auto Shiva—concluded on Friday. The CID were granted custody of four more arrested accused on Friday, including two members of a five-man gang allegedly hired from Kolar by the Jaga gang to execute Shiva’s murder.