BENGALURU: After two photos and a video of actor Darshan Thoogudeepa smoking and having tea with some prisoners inside the Bengaluru Central Prison went viral, a city court on Tuesday granted permission to shift him to Ballari jail. Along with Darshan, nine other accused in the Renukaswamy murder case will be shifted to different jails in the state.
Meanwhile, warder KS Sudarshan, jailer Paramesh Nayak and assistant jailer Rayamane KB of Bengaluru prison have been suspended.
Earlier in the day, CM Siddaramaiah hinted that Darshan would be shifted to the Ballari jail. The police moved the court seeking its permission to shift some of the accused in the murder case to other jails.
Bengaluru prison officers will shift the accused to other jails after receiving the court order. The photographs of Darshan with his manager Nagaraj, rowdy sheeters Wilson Garden Naga and Kulla Seena on the lawns of the jail sparked a controversy after they went viral on Sunday. Of the accused, Jagadish alias Jagga and M Lakshman will be shifted to the Shivamogga jail, Stonny Brook pub owner V Vinay to Vijayapura, K Pawan alias Puttaswamy, N Raghavendra and
S Nandish to Mysuru, Dhanaraj alias Raju to Dharwad, Darshan’s manager Nagaraju to Kalaburagi, and S Pradush to the Belagavi jail.
Pavithra Gowda, 2 others to remain in B’luru prison
The main accused, Pavithra Gowda, and Anu Kumar and M Deepak, also accused in the murder case, will remain in the Bengaluru prison. Ravi Shankar, Karthik alias Kappe, Keshavmurthy and L Nikhil Nayak have been shifted to the Tumakuru jail. City Police Commissioner B Dayananda told reporters that a request has been made to the Prison Department officers to shift some of the notorious criminals, including those involved in the recent incident, from Bengaluru to other prisons as they may continue their illegal activities inside the jail. Of them, eight rowdy sheeters have been booked under the Karnataka Control of Organised Crimes Act, 2000 (KCOCA).