BJP MLA and Real Estate Magnate Arrested in Bengaluru Murder Case

A powerful four-time MLA who transformed his K R Pura constituency in east Bengaluru and its neighboring regions into a real estate fiefdom, Byrathi Basavaraj was arrested on February 12 by the state Criminal Investigation Department (CID) in a murder case dating back to July 2025.

The arrest of BJP legislator and ex-minister Basavaraj, who celebrated his 64th birthday in January with full-page advertisements bought by his supporters in local newspapers, came after nearly eight-month efforts by law enforcement agencies to bring the lawmaker to justice for the alleged murder of real estate operator V G Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shiva, 44, over a real estate dispute.

Basavaraj, a city councillor-turned-MLA who has been elected to the Karnataka Assembly continuously since 2013, had been allegedly running a parallel administration for land acquisitions in his K R Pura constituency over the last decade. He got embroiled in the 2025 murder, which has been a significant focus of the CID's investigation.

Basavaraj is alleged to have established a dominion in the real estate sector at the burgeoning periphery of Bengaluru in collaboration with a close circle of men – family members, hand-picked councillors, and ex-gangsters-turned-realtors. Using his clout, he managed to get police officers of his choice posted in the belt. The Karnataka CID told a special court on February 13, when Basavaraj was produced in court, while seeking police custody, “It has been learned that the accused (Basavaraj) is involved in the real estate business. During the investigation, it was learned that the accused was supporting accused A-1 and A-20 in their real estate business.”

The special court for elected officials had noted in December 2025 while rejecting his anticipatory bail plea, “Further it is submitted that he (Basavaraj) was providing protection to his supporters in his jurisdiction to support the real estate business and his supporters included accused No.1, 2, 3, 15 and 20, who were all having criminal backgrounds.”

The murder of the real estate operative Bikla Shiva on the evening of July 15, 2025, outside his home on the busy Meanee Avenue in east Bengaluru, is alleged to have its origins in a real estate dispute in which Basavaraj was directly involved in issuing threats to the realtor before the murder was executed by a gang of assailants allegedly organized by his close associates and former east Bengaluru gangsters – Jagadish P alias Jaga, 45, and A G Ajeeth Kumar, 48.

The murder is alleged to have occurred after Bikla Shiva refused to buckle under pressure from the BJP MLA to back off from claiming ownership of 12 gunta land (one gunta is approximately 1,000 square feet) in the Kithaganur village on the eastern periphery of the city, where land values have been skyrocketing from a few crores to Rs 20 crore for an acre following the construction of a new ring road.

The slain realtor and the BJP MLA reportedly had multiple skirmishes regarding properties in east Bengaluru in late 2024 and early 2025 before the Kithaganur dispute surfaced in February 2025. The CID investigations found that the slain realtor lodged multiple complaints with the police of threats to his life from the MLA and his associates in early 2025, but no serious action was taken. In fact, Bikla Shiva was himself briefly imprisoned by the police in March 2025 for a bond violation after the MLA is alleged to have brought pressure on police officers in his constituency.

During initial questioning by the Bengaluru police in the aftermath of the July 15, 2025, murder, Basavaraj denied any association with the prime accused Jagadish or the murder victim. However, photographs later emerged showing Basavaraj with Jaga at birthday parties, private functions, and even on a pilgrimage to the Kumbh Mela in February 2025, when the murder conspiracy is alleged to have been hatched.

Basavaraj, who belongs to the same Other Backward Class (OBC) Kuruba community as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, was initially associated with the Congress at the start of his political career. A city councillor from K R Pura in 2008, he was elected as an MLA for the first time in 2013 on a Congress ticket. He was among 17 Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs who toppled a Congress-JD(S) alliance government in Karnataka by shifting to the BJP in 2019. He was made the urban development minister in the BJP’s B S Yediyurappa-led government after winning the K R Pura bypoll in 2019.

In 2023, Basavaraj won the K R Pura seat for the fourth time on a BJP ticket, but the BJP lost the Assembly polls to the Congress. Basavaraj’s cousin Byrathi Suresh, a close associate of Siddaramaiah and a Congress MLA from the Hebbal, inherited the urban development portfolio from Basavaraj in the Congress government. According to his election affidavits for the 2013, 2018, and 2023 polls, his wealth has nearly tripled over a decade – from Rs 46 crore to Rs 122 crore, with nearly Rs 85 crore of assets in real estate.

The BJP MLA was arrested on February 12 upon his arrival from Ahmedabad – after the Supreme Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea. Earlier on February 10, the Karnataka High Court rejected his anticipatory bail plea and cancelled his interim protection from arrest granted by a vacation bench of the court. “The interrogation of powerful accused, such as the petitioner, who is highly influential armed with an order of anticipatory bail may not be as effective. The decision as to the manner of investigation must be left with the investigation authority and the court cannot sit in judgment over the same,” said the court’s February 10 order. On February 12, the Supreme Court “dismissed as withdrawn” the anticipatory bail plea moved by Basavaraj.