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The Basaveshwaranagar Machete case exposes major lapses in Bengaluru Police's handling under ACP Chandan Kumar. A viral reel led to arrests, but gullible officers released the accused based on a fake prop, prompting a belated crackdown after public outrage.
In a bizarre twist of events that could rival a reality TV plotline, the Basaveshwaranagar Machete case has exposed a comedy of errors under Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Chandan Kumar’s watch. What began as a viral Instagram reel featuring Big Boss Kannada contestants Rajath Kishan G and Vinay Gowda brandishing a menacing weapon has spiraled into a tale of police gullibility, missing evidence, and a belated scramble for credibility—all unfolding in Bengaluru as of March 25, 2025. Once hailed for his shrewd handling of the Darshan Thoogudeepa murder case, ACP Chandan now finds his reputation teetering as his team’s blunders take center stage.
On March 19, 2025, Rajath Kishan posted an 18-second Instagram reel showcasing himself and Vinay Gowda swaggering with what appeared to be a lethal machete. Captioned with a bravado-laden “bujjjjii when brother says…. I have a problem!!!! Kariya …..,” the video exploded online, racking up 55,000 likes and thousands of shares. The Basaveshwaranagar Police, led by PSI Bhanu Prakash under ACP Chandan’s Vijayanagar sub-division, flagged it as a public safety threat on March 20, filing an FIR under the Arms Act and Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for public nuisance. The duo was arrested on Monday, March 24, evening, after days of public outcry.
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What followed was a masterclass in police naiveté. Late Monday night, Rajath called his wife, instructing her to retrieve a fibre-made weapon from Akshay Studio in Nagarabhavi, where they claimed the reel was filmed. She dutifully presented this prop to the Basaveshwaranagar Police Station around midnight, and—astonishingly—Chandan’s team released the duo without a second thought. The logic? A fibre weapon used in a private studio isn’t a crime. But here’s the punchline: no one bothered to compare this prop with the weapon in the viral video. Under ACP Chandan, a man once lauded for his meticulousness in the Darshan case, the police swallowed the story hook, line, and sinker, letting Rajath and Vinay walk free in the dead of night.
Tuesday, March 25, brought a rude awakening. Public and media scrutiny rained down on the police for their rookie mistake. How could a team under a supposedly seasoned ACP fail to verify the weapon’s authenticity before releasing the accused? Facing flak, Chandan’s squad summoned Rajath and Vinay back by 10 a.m., but the duo sauntered in at 2:20 p.m., already armed with video defenses denying any deceit. A spot inspection at Akshay Studio revealed the damning truth: the weapon from the reel was nowhere to be found. The fibre prop they’d paraded was a decoy, and the real evidence—potentially a genuine machete—had vanished.
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Furious, the police slapped additional charges of destruction of evidence on the duo, rearresting them. “When we took Vinay and Rajath to the studio for mahazar, we didn’t find the weapon used in the reel. Since a different weapon was produced, we’ve invoked charges for destruction of evidence,” a police officer fumed, promising a magistrate appearance that night to seek custody. But the damage was done—Chandan’s team had been outwitted by two reality stars with a flimsy alibi and a fake prop.
This isn’t the ACP Chandan Bengaluru remembers from June 2024, when he led the Darshan murder investigation with surgical precision. Then, he personally arrested the Kannada superstar, rebuffing attempts to dodge justice, and delivered a watertight chargesheet that silenced skeptics. That Chandan was a bulldog, sniffing out evidence and defying pressure. Today, he’s the butt of a joke, presiding over a team that couldn’t spot the difference between a reel weapon and a studio prop until it was too late. Were they so poor at basic policing that they waited for a fibre machete to be spoon-fed to them? The lapse is laughable—until you consider the public safety implications of a missing weapon.
Enter Police Commissioner B. Dayananda, the cavalry arriving to salvage the wreckage. Responding to the fiasco, he ordered the fibre weapon sent for expert analysis, promising “necessary action.” His intervention signals a tightening of the reins, a stark contrast to the laxity that let Rajath and Vinay slip through the cracks. The Basaveshwaranagar Police, who’d naively released the duo thinking “fibre means no foul,” now face a reckoning. Dayananda’s no-nonsense approach echoes the Darshan case’s rigor, but it’s a belated fix for a blunder that never should’ve happened.
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Rajath and Vinay, meanwhile, played their roles to perfection. In preemptive video clips, Vinay insisted, “The shooting prop produced was brought from the studio… I’m clarifying that I have nothing to do with misleading,” while Rajath downplayed it as a “small issue,” claiming, “We didn’t have any idea which weapon they gave. We haven’t lied to the police.” Their feigned innocence might sway fans, but it doesn’t explain the missing weapon—or their initial failure to produce it. Were they banking on police ineptitude? Under ACP Chandan, they nearly got away with it.
The Basaveshwaranagar Machete saga is more than a celebrity scandal—it’s a mirror to a police force caught napping. ACP Chandan, once a symbol of investigative brilliance, now helms a unit mocked for its Keystone Cops routine. Commissioner Dayananda’s cleanup can’t erase the stain of a midnight release based on a prop that fooled no one but the police themselves. As Rajath and Vinay face the magistrate, the real question lingers: how did Bengaluru’s finest fall for a reality show ruse? This machete masquerade is a captivating lesson in hubris, haste, and the high cost of sloppy policing.
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(The author Girish Linganna is an award-winning Science Writer and a Defence, Aerospace & Political Analyst based in Bengaluru. He is also Director of ADD Engineering Components, India, Pvt. Ltd, a subsidiary of ADD Engineering GmbH, Germany. You can reach him at: girishlinganna@gmail.com)
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