BJP MLA and former Minister Byrathi Basavaraj has been booked in connection with the murder of a realtor, in front of his mother, police said on Wednesday (July 16, 2025).

The assailants came in a car and murdered Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shivu, a rowdy sheeter, in Bharathi Nagar in the city on Tuesday (July 15, 2025) night. The former Minister has been booked along with others, based on a complaint filed by the mother of the deceased, police said.

Shivaprakash’s mother, Vijayalakshmi, in her complaint, said that 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.

“As I screamed, people from around began gathering. Those unknown individuals murdered my son and fled from the scene in a white Scorpio vehicle and a two-wheeler. I can identify them if I see them,” Ms. Vijayalakshmi said in her complaint.

Top police officials, including DCP D. Devaraj and Joint Commissioner Ramesh Banoth, visited the spot and confirmed that Shivakumar had a long criminal record with 11 cases registered against him and a rowdy sheet opened in 2006.

The police registered a case against Mr. Basavaraj along with Jagadeesh, Kiran, Vimal and Anil. The former minister has been added as accused number 5 in the FIR, police said.

On February 11, Mr. Jagadeesh and Mr. Kiran encroached on Shivaprakash’s property in Kitaknoor and evicted the two female security guards from there, Ms. Vijayalakshmi alleged.

The accused had been calling him on the phone and threatening her son, she charged.