BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday reserved orders on the bail petitions filed by actor Darshan and seven accused, including Pavithra Gowda, in connection with the murder of Renukaswamy.
Justice S Vishwajith Shetty reserved the order after concluding arguments of the prosecution and defence counsels, and extended interim bail granted to Darshan, whose surgery has been fixed on December 11, until further orders.
Continuing further arguments, Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) P Prasanna Kumar argued on behalf of the city police and contended that an eyewitness had stated that actor Darshan kicked the private parts of deceased Renukaswamy, and stamped his chest after his pant was removed, at Pattanagere shed in the city, apart from the other accused assaulting him.
Contending that technical evidence supported by eyewitnesses shows the involvement of the accused persons in the crime, the SPP argued that the postmortem report pointed out 39 external injuries on the body of the deceased. The movement of Darshan and Pavithra Gowda to the shed was recorded on CCTV, coupled with Call Details Records (CDR) showing the accused’s presence at the location.
The presence of DNA on the cloth of the accused Darshan has also supported the case. The DNA report is cent percent accurate. Therefore, the doubt expressed by the defence about the DNA report is incorrect, he argued.
In reply, senior counsel C V Nagesh argued on behalf of Darshan that the prosecution has questioned Darshan for still not undergoing surgery. Being a patient, the accused cannot postpone or decide on the surgery, and it was the duty of the doctor to fix the date and perform the surgery, based on health condition.
Therefore, the accused cannot force the doctor to perform surgery, saying interim bail is concluding. The surgery will be performed on December 11 and therefore, there is no violation of interim bail conditions on his part, he argued.
The orders on the bail petitions filed by Nagaraju R, Anu Kumar, Lakshman M, Pavitra Gowda, V Vinay, Jagadeesh and Pradoosh S Rao were also reserved.