Renukaswamy murder case: All accused including actor Darshan appear before court

All the 17 accused in the case, who are out on bail, appeared at the 57th CCH Court here as per the procedure, official sources said.

Bengaluru: Kannada film star Darshan Thoogudeepa, his friend Pavithra Gowda and 15 other accused in the Renukaswamy murder case appeared before a court on Friday.

The accused, who are all on bail, appeared before the 57th CCH Court as mandated by the court as part of the bail procedure. The accused arrived at the court complex along with their counsels. Their next appearance has been scheduled for February 25.

Chitradurga native Renukaswamy’s body was found disposed of near a stormwater drain in Sumanahalli, west Bengaluru, on June 9. Police investigation led to the arrests of actor Darshan, Pavithra and 15 other associates.

After probing the case for nearly three months, police filed a charge sheet on September 3, naming Pavithra accused 1 and Darshan accused number 2. Police concluded that the motive for the motive was Renukaswamy sending obscene messages to Pavithra.

Others charged were Pawan K, 29; Raghavendra, 43; Nandish, 28; Jagadish, 36; Anu Kumar, 25; Ravi Shankar, 32; Dhanraj D, 27; Vinay V, 38; Nagaraju, 41; Laxman, 54; Deepak, 39; Pradosh, 40; Karthik, 27; Keshavamurthy, 27; and Nikhil Nayak, 21.

On December 13, the High Court of Karnataka granted conditional bail to Darshan, who was already out on interim bail on medical grounds. Pavithra, Nagaraju, Anu Kumar, Laxman, Jagadeesh and Pradoosh were also granted bail. On January 6, the government filed a SLP in the Supreme Court challenging the bail.