Bengaluru, Feb 12 (IANS) The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday night arrested senior BJP MLA and former minister Byrathi Basavaraj in connection with the murder of rowdy-sheeter Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shiva.

The arrest came hours after the Supreme Court rejected Basavaraj’s bail plea earlier in the day. The MLA was taken into custody at Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru by the Devanahalli police upon his arrival from Ahmedabad on IndiGo flight 6E683 and was later handed over to the CID.

Basavaraj, who represents the KR Puram Assembly constituency, had been facing the possibility of arrest after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Karnataka High Court earlier this week.

After being detained at the airport, he was escorted to the CID office in Bengaluru, where formal arrest procedures were completed. He underwent a medical examination and is likely to be produced before a court on Friday.

The CID is expected to seek his custodial interrogation by filing a remand application.

Earlier in the day, a Bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymala Bagchi, while hearing his petition, observed that the legislator had made incorrect submissions regarding his links with the main accused in the case and advised him to face trial.

“Since you are a public servant, you should be courageous enough to face the trial,” the Bench remarked.

Following the Supreme Court’s order, the CID had intensified efforts to trace the MLA.

The murder of Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shiva occurred on July 15 last year in the Halasuru area of Bengaluru.

Basavaraj has been named as the fifth accused in the case and booked on charges of murder. The Bharatinagar police registered an FIR against him based on a complaint filed by the victim’s mother.

Subsequently, the deceased’s mother claimed that she had not mentioned the MLA’s name in her complaint and did not know how it was included in the FIR. Police later stated that they had established Basavaraj’s alleged links with the prime accused in the case.

Investigators have also claimed that Basavaraj had links with rowdy Jagadeesh alias Jagga, the prime accused, and had met Biklu Shiva on several occasions prior to the killing.

Basavaraj was earlier associated with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah before joining the BJP.

–IANS

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