Stringent KCOCA invoked in Bengaluru realtor murder case in which BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj is an accused
'Clearances have been obtained for invoking KCOCA in the Bharathinagar murder case,' said a police source.
A group of more than eight people allegedly killed Shiva, a resident of Halasuru, when he was standing outside his home in Halasuru with his driver and a friend on July 15.
The Bengaluru police have arrested 16 people in the murder case and Basavarajraj, the Krishnarajapura MLA, is among the five people named in the First Information Report (FIR). The police have questioned the MLA even as the Karnataka High Court has provided protection from arrest to him following a petition for the quashing of the case against him.
A key accused in the case, Jagadish alias Jaga, a former gangster who is a close associate of the BJP MLA, is still at large and is suspected to have fled to Dubai shortly after the murder. CCTV visuals gathered from his apartment block show him leaving in an Audi car within 10 minutes of the murder.
The CID moved Interpol to issue a Blue Corner Notice to locate Jagadish, who is alleged to have orchestrated the murder of Shiva over a real estate dispute in the Kithaganur area of East Bengaluru, police sources said. Jagadish featured in gangster lists in East Bengaluru till a decade ago before being removed allegedly under the influence of an MLA.
The police are investigating calls received by a personal assistant (PA) of the MLA from the mobile phone of Jagadish after the murder, as well as a series of calls in the run-up to the crime between the PA, two of the accused in the murder, and two associates of the MLA, who were previously gangsters.
The investigation of the murder case by the Bengaluru police before it was handed to the CID revealed that Shiva, who also had a criminal record, complained on multiple occasions of being harassed by a gang led by a former history-sheeter, Jagadish P alias Jaga, an associate of the K R Pura BJP MLA, over a 1.5-acre property.
According to the police, the name of Basavaraj was added in the FIR after Vijayalakshmi, 68, mother of Shiva, who claimed to have witnessed the murder from the balcony of her house, said her son had been complaining about receiving threats from the close associates of the MLA.
Kiran K, 34, and Vimal Raj, 31, two key henchmen of Jagadish, and their associates Pradeep K, 27; Madan R, 27; Samuel V, 24; Arun Temu, 25; and Naveen K, 24, are the men arrested for allegedly hatching the conspiracy to execute the murder. Kiran and Vimal are named in multiple criminal cases in East Bengaluru, said the police.
KCOCA is used to control organised crime on account of its stringent provisions for police custody of arrested persons, stronger norms for the grant of bail, provisions for the use of phone intercepts and police confessions as evidence, and 180 days for chargesheets.
Under KCOCA, a person is considered to be involved in 'continuing unlawful activity' if any one person in the group of people who are accused of a crime has more than one chargesheet for similar offences filed against their name in the preceding 10 years.
Introduced in 2000, it has been utilised by the Karnataka Police since 2015 as an effective measure to combat organised crime. The law includes provisions on bail, evidence, culpability, and other aspects that enhance the police's ability to prosecute individuals involved in organised, violent crimes.
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