The Supreme Court on Thursday revoked the bail granted to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa by the Karnataka High Court in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case.
A bench of Justices J. B. Pardiwala and R. Mahadevan was hearing an appeal filed by the Karnataka state government.
Darshan was arrested on June 11, 2024, for his alleged involvement in the June 9 killing of Renukaswamy, a fan accused of stalking and abusing the actor’s close friend and fellow actor Pavitra Gowda on social media. Investigations revealed that Darshan allegedly paid a group of men to carry out the murder in Bengaluru. Members of his gang, along with Gowda, were also arrested.
What Is The Case
Kannada actor Darshan, popularly known as "Challenging Star" along with his friend and co-artiste Pavithra Gowda and 11 of his close associates were arrested on June 11 last year, for the murder of the 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor.
Renukaswamy, a resident of Chitradurga, allegedly commented on the social media account of Pavithra Gowda, a small-time actress, accusing her of creating a rift between the actor and his wife, Vijayalaxmi. Renukaswamalso allegedly used "indecent language" and posted offensive messages, according to police sources cited in reports.
Police on June 13 and 14, arrested five more people, including a close aide of Darshan, in connection with the case. They also recovered CCTV footage purportedly showing the suspected abduction of the victim in a car.
According to sources cited in a news agency PTI report, one of these arrested accused, Raghavendra, who is part of Darshan’s fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in Bengaluru's RR Nagar on the pretext that Darshan wanted to meet him.
It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and killed. Renukaswamy's was found near a storm-water drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli on June 9.
On December 13, 2024, the High Court granted regular bail to Darshan, Gowda, and co-accused Pradoosh Rao, Jagadish alias Jaggu, Anu Kumar, Laxman M, and Nagaraju K.
In September, Bengaluru police filed a 3,991-page chargesheet, listing Pavitra Gowda as Accused No. 1 and Darshan as Accused No. 2. Others named in the chargesheet include Pawan K (29), Raghavendra (43), Nandish (28), Jagadish (36), Anukumar (25), Ravi Shankar (32), Dhanraj D (27), Vinay V (38), Nagaraju (41), Laxman (54), Deepak (39), Pradosh (40), Karthik (27), Keshavamurthy (27), and Nikhil Nayak (21).
