The Karnataka High Court has granted default bail to four accused, including prime accused Jagadish P alias Jagga, in the murder case of real estate agent Shivaprakash alias Biklu Shiva, as the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) failed to file a chargesheet within the statutory time limit.
Justice S. Sunil Dutt Yadav passed the order while allowing the bail pleas of Jagadish (accused no-1), K. Kiran (accused no-2), Vimal Raj B. (accused no-3) and Madan R. (accused no-7).
The petitioners challenged the orders passed by the Magistrate Court on 26 December 2025 and the Court of Appeal on 2 February 2026, dismissing their application filed on 22 December 2025 seeking bail in default for failure to file charges within the stipulated time.
The High Court pointed out that the CID had 90 days to file a charge sheet from the date of their arrest, but the 90-day period was extended due to the application of the stringent Karnataka Control of Organized Crime Act (KCOCA).
Since the Supreme Court had on December 19, 2025 ruled on the illegal invocation of KCOCA against all the accused in the cases, the accused were automatically entitled to anticipatory bail as the time limit for filing charges was reverted to 90 days as stipulated in the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) and the time period extended under KCOCA ceased to exist, Justice Yadav said.
The High Court observed that the accused had filed a bail application in the Magistrate’s Court on December 22, 2025 at 12 noon as the CID had filed a preliminary charge proposal at 5.15 pm on the same day.
“The filing of the charge sheet at 5.15 pm on December 22, 2025, which is a later time after the bail application was filed, could not defeat the unenforceable right vested in the petitioners,” the High Court said, referring to the Supreme Court judgment.
Meanwhile, Justice Yadav clarified that the decision to grant bail in default would depend on the outcome of an appeal filed by the CID before the apex court challenging the Supreme Court’s decision to quash charges under KCOCA against the accused persons. If the apex court restores the KCOCA, the accused must face legal consequences, the high court said.
Published – 18 March 2026 20:57 IST
