BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court quashed the order passed by the trial court accepting the application filed by accused Pradosh S Rao tendering a pardon and admission as approver in the Renukaswamy murder case involving actor Darshan for violating the law.
The HC, however, remitted the matter to the trial court to pass an order afresh on Pradosh's application without reference to the report of the probation officer under the Probation of Offenders Act, 1958.
“It is made clear that the direction is to pass an order afresh and not to re-hear the application all over again", the HC added. Justice M Nagaprasanna passed the order recently while partly allowing the petition filed by Darshan challenging the orders dated August 25, 2026, passed by the trial court in the city.
The high court noted that what drives Darshan to this court is the impugned order that has within itself certain illegality regarding consideration of an application filed by accused No.14, Pradoosh, under Section 307 of CrPC - tendering of a pardon and admission as approver.
The high court said that the trial court calls for a report from the probation officer regarding the nature, conduct and family background of Pradoosh. Such a report can be called only in three circumstances, not during trial, but post-conviction. The first circumstance would be when the sentence has to be drawn post-conviction; the next, when suspension of sentence should happen; and the third, when the convicted accused should be released on probation.
All three instances are yet to come about. Therefore, the trial court has misdirected itself in law, ignoring the mandate of the provisions of the Probation of Offenders Act and has chosen to suo motu call for a report from the hands of the probation officer. This act, on the part of the trial court, was wholly unnecessary, the high court observed.