Supreme Court Cancels Bail Of Actor Darshan Toogudeepa In Renukaswamy Murder Case

Bengaluru: Popular Kannada film actor Darshan Toogudeepa suffered a major setback with the Supreme Court setting aside the bail granted to him in connection with murder of Renukaswamy, who used to send obscene messages to Darshan's girlfriend.

Apart from Darshan, the Court has also cancelled the bail for his girlfriend Pavithra Gowda and other five accused in the case.

Coming down heavily on the Karnataka High Court order of granting bail to the actor, the Supreme Court bench comprising Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan have directed the Court Registry to circulate one copy of this judgement, to all the High Court and to all the Jail Superintendents in the country through their respective state governments.

Stating that no man is above the law and no man is below it, Justice Pardiwala warned: ``the day we come to know that the accused person gets five star treatment within the jail premises, the first process will be to place the jail superintendent in suspension including all the other officials involved in such misconduct.''

Soon after the judgement came out, the police took Darshan into their custody from the flat of his wife Vijayalakshmi at Hoskerehalli. The other accused Pavithra Gowda was also taken into custody and both, along with the other accused were brought to Annapurneshwari police station. From there, both were sent for medical check up and were sent to Bengaluru jail.

Since Darshan was lodged at Ballari jail before getting jail, he would be sent to Ballari jail tomorrow, as it was late in the evening when the procedures were completed.

Several things went against Darshan in the Supreme Court, before the court cancelled the bail granted by the Karnataka High Court. The Bengaluru police had submitted a photograph where Darshan was partying with another actor Chikkanna, who is a prosecution witness number 80 in the case.

Besides, the court was unhappy with the way the Karnataka High Court granted the bail to the seven accused in the case. While taking a dig at the first bail granted to Darshan on medical grounds, the court noted that Darshan had not shown the type of surgery he needed and needed post surgery care. Instead, they told the court that the surgery could not be carried out since his blood pressure was not under control.

``The accused approached the court with unclean hands, having misrepresented the facts regarding the surgery,'' the court noted.

Besides, the court ignored the fact that victim Renukaswamy was forcibly abducted, which attracts IPC Sec 364. The court also disregarded the forensic evidence and scientific investigations like DNA tests and CCTv footage, without cogent explanations.

CASE BRIEF: Renukaswamy of Chitradurga, who was an employee of Apollo Pharma was sending obscene messages to Pavithra Gowda, who had a live-in relationship with actor Darshan. Though she tried to block him, he started sending messages through multiple accounts.

When Pavithra Gowda brought it to the notice of Darshan, he got Renukaswamy kidnapped from Chitradurga, brought to a dumping yard belonging to his friend at Sumanahalli in Bengaluru.

In the shed, Renukaswamy was beaten up by Darshan's associates. Later, Darshan and Pavithra Gowda also came to the dump yard and beat him up. Unable to bear the beating, Renukaswamy died.

His body was dumped near a storm water drain and the Annapurneshwari Nagar police registered an unnatural death case on June 9, 2024. On June 11, both Darshan and Pavithra Gowda were arrested in the murder of Renukaswamy.