BENGALURU: The City Civil and Sessions Court on Monday rejected the bail plea of jailed Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, his close acquaintance Pavithra Gowda and two others. Meanwhile, the court granted bail to Deepak (accused number 13) and Ravishankar (accused number 8) in connection with the kidnap and murder of Renukaswamy.
After hearing arguments from both sides earlier, Judge Jaishankar, on Monday, rejected the bail applications filed by Darshan, Pavithra, his manager Nagaraj and Lakshman.
Senior counsel CV Nagesh appeared for Darshan and Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) B Prasanna Kumar had completed the arguments and counter-arguments in the case on Monday.
In connection with the kidnap and murder case of Renukaswamy, 17 people, including Darshan and Pavithra Gowda, were arrested on June 11. The Kamakshipalya police, after investigation, submitted a 3,991-page charge sheet to the court.
Earlier, the Sessions Court granted bail to Nikhil Naik and Karthik, while the Karnataka High Court approved bail for Keshava Murthy on September 23. The two were accused in the kidnap and murder of Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga and a medical store employee, who was allegedly tortured and killed in a shed.
Darshan is currently lodged in Ballari prison, and his lawyer filed the bail application on September 21. The murder of 33-year-old Renukaswamy came to light after his body was found near a drain in Sumanahalli in West Bengaluru on June 9.
During the earlier arguments C V Nagesh, senior counsel for Darshan, stated that the eyewitness in the murder case had been planted by the police. He argued that the mobile tower locations and IP addresses of the accused could be tampered with, claiming that they hold no sanctity as the tower location covers a 25-mile area. He also pointed out that the scene of the crime and the residences of Darshan and other accused individuals were in the vicinity.
Nagesh further claimed that the investigation was improper and suspicious and that the court's decision should not be based on tower locations alone. He also alleged that Darshan had no knowledge of the deceased, Renukaswamy, until June 5, as Pavithra Gowda was not speaking to him at that time because he had taken his wife on a trip abroad.
"When Pavithra Gowda was not talking to Darshan, how could he know about Renukaswamy?" Nagesh argued, adding that the police investigation was a classic failure, comparing the charges in the charge sheet to the story of Arabian Nights.
Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prasanna Kumar, in presenting the counter-arguments regarding the delay in recording statements, submitted that 76-79 witnesses had worked at the shed, and their mobile tower locations, along with those of the accused, were tracked to the shed in Pattanagere, where the crime occurred. The accused, Darshan and Pavithra Gowda, had arrived at the shed in a black Scorpio.
In a statement, Darshan confessed that he had kicked his friend Renukaswamy in the chest and private parts. Objecting to the argument that the accused were merely associates of Darshan and that the call details should not be considered as evidence, the SPP stated that the Supreme Court had emphasized the significance of call records, which cannot be undermined.
Renukaswamy was murdered and his body dumped in a drain at Sumanahalli. The SPP also referred to the incident as Darshan's "Rakht Charitra" and asserted that he was aware of the conspiracy to kidnap Renukaswamy from Chitradurga.
