Realtor, aide seek anticipatory bail in Bengaluru gym trainer contract killing

3 min readBengaluruJul 13, 2026 12:33 PM IST

According to the police, gym trainer Vijay Kumar was allegedly murdered after he was lured to a drinking session on the night of June 6. (Enhanced with AI)

A real estate businessman and his associate, an advocate, both linked to the contract killing of a gym trainer on the outskirts of Bengaluru over the trainer’s alleged affair with the realtor’s daughter, have approached a court for anticipatory bail in the murder case.

The realtor, Prasad Rao, approached a sessions court in Bengaluru Rural on July 9 and advocate B Lokesh moved the court on July 10. The court has asked the state to file its objections to the anticipatory bail pleas by July 15.

The murder of Vijay Kumar, alias Vijay Yadav, 35, came to light after locals found his decomposed body near the Bannerghatta forest on June 9, three days after he went missing. Based on call detail records (CDR) and other evidence, the Bannerghatta police initially arrested four men—Srirama, Sumith, Venkateshaiah, and Babu, all residents of Anekal—on murder charges.

The investigations were handed over to the Criminal Investigation Department last month after the realtor’s wife made allegations against a senior central range police officer who was supervising investigations of the case registered at the Bannerghatta police station.

The police investigation revealed that the four accused allegedly lured Vijay Kumar to a drinking party on June 6 in Anekal on the outskirts of Bengaluru. At the party, a member of the gang struck the gym trainer on his head and killed him, police sources said.

A plot undone by oversleeping

Among the arrested accused, Sumith had allegedly started visiting the gym as part of a larger, elaborate plan to befriend Vijay Kumar and lure him into a death trap. While the gang planned to dump Vijay Kumar’s body on the Tamil Nadu side of the state border and stage a surrender for a drunken brawl, the plot took a twist after the gang members overslept and could not find a place across the state border to dispose of the body, police sources said.

With the body starting to decompose the next evening, the gang hurriedly dumped the body in the forest region near Bannerghatta, police sources said.

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The investigation revealed that the gang was allegedly given a Rs 25-lakh contract for the murder by a real estate businessman, through an advocate, because of an affair between the gym trainer and the realtor’s daughter. The gym trainer is reported to have previously eloped with the realtor’s daughter in 2023. In December 2025, the daughter was reported to have been sent abroad for studies.