Bengaluru: Five arrested for rowdy sheeter's murder

The names of the five suspects, who, as per sources, surrendered before the investigators, claiming responsibility for the murder, were yet to be officially released. Police sources, however, identified them as Kiran, Pradeep, Vimal, Madan and Samuel.

Bengaluru: Five people were arrested by the Bengaluru police for the recent murder of a rowdy sheeter in east Bengaluru, where BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj was named as one of the suspects.

“The five suspects have been placed under arrest,” Ramesh Banoth, Joint Commissioner of Police (East), told DH. “They were produced before a court and sent to police custody for 10 days for further investigation.”

The names of the five suspects, who, as per sources, surrendered before the investigators claiming responsibility for the murder, were Kiran, Pradeep, Vimal, Madan and Samuel.

“They have confessed that past rivalry and property-related disputes were the motives behind the murder. However, we are verifying all this,” the police source said.

Kiran, 25, the sources said, was related to Jagadish, who was named as accused 1 in the FIR. Jagadish, as of now, remained at large. Some reports suggested that he had moved the courts seeking anticipatory bail. This was yet to be officially confirmed.

Shivakumar alias Biklu Shiva, 40, was murdered by the suspects near his residence in Meanee Avenue Road in Bharathinagar on Tuesday night.

In the FIR, Shivakumar’s mother alleged that he was a real estate agent and in 2023 registered the General Power of Attorney (GPA) of a property in his name. The FIR noted that Jagadish, Kiran and a few others in February this year had trespassed on the property and issued threats to Shivakumar.

The FIR also noted that Shivakumar had previously approached the police with the petition, saying that the assailants were backed by BJP MLA Basavaraj.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, the complainant took a U-turn and said that she hadn’t named the BJP MLA in her complaint.

“The police themselves added the names. My son first gave a complaint naming the BJP MLA. Maybe they [police] added it from that,” Shivakumar’s mother alleged.

Police officials said that the MLA on late Thursday evening was served a notice to appear before the investigating officer for questioning.

The case registered at the Bharathi Nagar police station is being probed by KG Halli sub-division Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Prakash Rathod.