BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday refused to grant anticipatory bail to former minister and BJP MLA Byrathi Basavaraj aka BA Basavaraj in the Bikla Shiva murder case.
Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav said that there is a possibility of fair investigation being hampered if anticipatory bail is granted since the petitioner wields political power and the mother of the deceased stays in the same constituency.
The court ruled that the interim anticipatory bail granted by the vacation bench on December 26, 2025, now stands discharged.
Additional State Public Prosecutor BN Jagadeesha said the petitioner wields influence over the police and it is on such a premise that the investigation was withdrawn from the state police and transferred to the CID.
He contended that custodial interrogation is required to confront the accused with certain material gathered through investigation as he is not cooperating.
The materials consist of call detail records, reports of inquiry on the complaint and a photograph of Basavaraj along with the accused, Jagadish aka Jagga. Basavaraj has feigned ignorance over Jagga, though photographs and call detail records show that the petitioner is attempting to mislead the investigation, he argued.
The counsel representing Basavaraj contended that the petitioner belongs to the opposition party and there is political malice in initiating prosecution against him.The petitioner has cooperated and appeared for two dates for interrogation, and there is no warrant for custodial interrogation.
He said the court has the power to give limited custody and the petitioner is willing to undergo interrogation as may be ordered without necessarily relegating the petitioner to custodial interrogation, he argued.
The court stated that custodial interrogation is qualitatively different from interrogation of an accused who has had the benefit of an order of anticipatory bail.