Karnataka high court grants MLA Basavaraja conditional interim pre-arrest bail in murder case | Bengaluru News

Bengaluru: A vacation bench of the high court granted conditional interim anticipatory bail to BA Basavaraja, BJP MLA from KR Pura constituency, in the Shivaprakash alias Bikla Shivu murder case. The order was passed by Justice G. Basavaraja in Bengaluru after hearing senior advocate Sandesh Chouta, who represented the MLA.The judge observed that the petitioner had appeared before the investigation officer in July, following the issuance of a notice. However, despite more than five months passing, no chargesheet had been filed, and no proper reasons were given for the delay. “Since the petitioner was granted protection by the coordinate bench in July and it remained till Dec 19, it is just and proper to grant ad-interim anticipatory bail till the disposal of the main petition,” he added, citing judgments from the Supreme Court.

The petitioner shall be released on bail in the event of his arrest upon the production of a Rs 5 lakh self-bond with two sureties for a like sum, to the satisfaction of the investigation officer. He must assist the investigation and shall not tamper with witnesses in any manner, Justice G. Basavaraja further directed, while listing the main petition for Jan 6, 2026, to consider objections to be filed by the CID.During the hearing, Chouta submitted that interim protection from arrest was granted by the high court in July and continued until Dec 19, when a coordinate bench quashed the order invoking the Karnataka Control of Organised Crime Act (KCOCA) against the petitioner but declined to grant anticipatory bail. On Dec 20, an anticipatory bail petition was filed before the special court and rejected on Dec 23. The present petition seeking anticipatory bail, along with an application for interim anticipatory bail, was filed on Dec 24.In his petition, the MLA maintained that he was innocent and stated, “even if the allegations made in the complaint are taken at face value, there is absolutely no case against him.” He claimed to be a law-abiding citizen who was falsely implicated in a case registered by Bharathinagar police and transferred to the CID, alleging political vendetta. He also insisted that he had no nexus with the crime and that the assailants, who were rivals of the deceased, might have committed the murder. “It appears that persons having political vengeance against me have enacted the incident (murder) for political gain and in this process have falsely implicated me,” he alleged.Shivaprakash was murdered on July 15. His mother, Vijayalakshmi, is the complainant. On Aug 12, provisions of KCOCA were invoked against the accused. The order invoking KCOCA was quashed on Dec 19. On the same day, Basavaraja withdrew another petition seeking the quashing of the FIR.