Bengaluru, 12 Feb

Karnataka BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj was arrested on Thursday at the Kempegowda International Airport here in connection with a murder case soon after he arrived from Ahmedabad, police sources said.

The police team waiting for his arrival at Terminal-1 took him into custody.

The KR Puram MLA's arrest comes hours after the Supreme Court refused to entertain a plea filed by him challenging the Karnataka High Court order denying him anticipatory bail in the murder of a history-sheeter-turned-realtor.

The case pertains to the murder of 40-year-old Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shivu, who was hacked to death at Bharathi Nagar in the City on 15 July, 2025.

During the course of the investigation, the police began probing the alleged role of Basavaraj, a former minister, in the crime, who has been named as the fifth accused in the FIR.

According to police, the assailants arrived in a car and murdered Shivaprakash in front of his mother.

Shivaprakash's mother, Vijayalakshmi, in her complaint, said she saw eight to nine people "assaulting" her son with iron rods and machetes. When his friend tried to intervene, they hit him too with an iron rod.

Investigators said the murder was triggered by a long-simmering property dispute dating back to February 2025, involving rival claimants to land in the Kithaganur area.