Supreme Court cancels bail granted to Kannada superstar Darshan in Renukaswamy murder case

Police alleged the victim was held in a shed in Bengaluru for three days in June 2024, tortured and his body was recovered from a drain.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside the Karnataka government High Court's order granting bail to Kannada film actor Darshan in the Renukaswamy murder case and cautioned jail officials against giving VIP treatment to the accused inside the prison, saying no one is above the law.

A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan allowed the appeal filed by the Karnataka government.

Justice Mahadevan pronounced the order on behalf of the bench, saying the High Court's order suffered from perversity for having relied upon witnesses' statements, which was prerogative of the trial.

The court also took a serious view of the VIP treatment granted to the accused.

Justice Pardiwala said the order setting aside the bail contained a strong message that the justice delivery system at any level should ensure at any cost that rule of law is maintained.

"No man is above law or below it. Nor do we ask anyone's permission when we obey it. The need of the hour is to maintain rule of law at all times. The day we came to know that the accused persons are being provided 5-star treatment, the first step would be to place the superintendent into suspension along with all other officials," the bench cautioned.

The court also set aside the bail granted to co-accused Nagaraju R, Anu Kumar alias Anu, Lakshman M, Pavitra Gowda, Jagadeesh alias Jagga, and Pradoosh S Rao alias Pradoosh.

The court had, on July 24, reserved the judgment on the special leave petition filed by the state government represented through senior advocate Sidharth Luthra and advocates Anil C Nishani and D L Chidananda.

The bench had then come down heavily upon the Karnataka High Court over the bail order, saying the manner in which the order was pronounced, it looked like this was a case of acquittal.

Finding the order as "perverse prima facie exercise of discretion," the court also questioned the High Court over raising doubts on the grounds of arrest in the murder case in its order passed on December 13, 2024.

"What is troubling is reasoning given, especially saying the grounds of arrest were not mentioned in a case of murder," the bench said.

On July 17, 2025, the court had also expressed its reservation with the order and said it was “not at all convinced” by the manner in which the high court exercised its discretion.

Darshan, a 47-year-old Kannada actor, was 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 Darshan, his close friend Pavithra Gowda, and 15 other associates.

The Bengaluru police also filed a charge sheet on September 3, wherein it named Pavithra as accused number 1 and Darshan as the accused number 2. Police claimed that Renukaswamy's act of sending offensive messages to Pavithra was the motive behind 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.

All the 17 accused are currently out on bail.