Renukaswamy murder case: Kannada film star Darshan files fresh plea in Supreme Court for bail

The apex court had on August 14, 2025 cancelled the bail granted to the Sandalwood star others accused, including Pavithra Gowda.

New Delhi: Kannada film actor Darshan Thogudepa has filed a fresh plea in the Supreme Court seeking bail in the 2024 Renukaswamy murder case.

Notably, the top court had on August 14, 2025 cancelled the bail granted to him and other accused including Pavithra Gowda.

In his fresh plea, he contended only 15 witnesses out of 273 witnesses  have been examined during the eight months since the trial began.

The examination of all the witnesses will take a long time to complete, his plea stated.

The 47-year-old Kannada actor, was first arrested on June 11, 2024 in connection with the murder of 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga. 

The victim’s body was discovered near a stormwater drain in Bengaluru on June 9, 2024.

According to the police, Renukaswamy had allegedly sent obscene messages to Darshan’s associate, Pavithra Gowda, which enraged the actor.

Police investigation led to the arrest of actor Darshan, his close friend Pavithra and 15 other associates.

The Bengaluru police also filed a charge sheet on September 3, 2024 naming Pavithra as accused No. 1 and Darshan as accused No. 2. Police claimed that Renukaswamy's act of sending offensive messages to Pavithra was the motive of the offence.

The others named in the charge sheet were Pawan K, 29; Raghavendra, 43; Nandish, 28; Jagadish, 36; Anukumar, 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.

The actor was first granted interim bail on medical grounds on October 30, 2024. 

He was granted regular bail by the High Court on December 13, 2024, which was cancelled by the apex court on August 14, 2025.