BENGALURU: The City Civil and Sessions Court on Monday framed charges of murder, criminal conspiracy, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and others against Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, his close aide Pavithra Gowda, and 15 others in the Renukaswamy murder case. All the accused pleaded not guilty, and the trial is scheduled to begin on November 10.
As news of Darshan’s court appearance spread, fans gathered outside the court to catch a glimpse of the actor. The courtroom was packed with advocates and members of the public. Darshan was seen with vermilion on his forehead. He and Pavithra were spotted speaking to each other — the first time since their arrest two months ago. All accused in the case were present before the court.
Senior advocate Balan appeared on behalf of Pavithra, while Sunil represented Darshan. The judge began framing charges after verifying the presence of all accused, including Pavan, Raghavendra, Nandeesh, Jagadish alias Jagga, Anukumar, Ravishankar alias Ravi, Dhanaraj, Vinay, Nagaraju, Lakshman, Deepak Kumar, Pradosh S Rao, Karthik V, Keshavamurthy and Nikhil Naik.
All the accused pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping and murdering Renukaswamy from Chitradurga, besides for other offences. Darshan was charged with murder, assault with criminal intent, kidnapping, destruction of evidence, and criminal conspiracy.
The victim, Renukaswamy, was found dead near a stormwater drain in Sumanahalli on June 9, 2024.
All the accused were later taken back to Bengaluru Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara under tight police security.
