Renukaswamy menace to society, Kannada actor Darshan tells High Court of Karnataka

Bengaluru: Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is an accused in the Renukaswamy murder case, argued before the Karnataka High Court that the deceased was a "menace to society." Senior Advocate C V Nagesh, representing Darshan, made the statement during a hearing seeking bail for the jailed actor on Tuesday.

According to Nagesh, Renukaswamy had a history of sharing obscene images of women and had no regard for societal norms or respect for women. Nagesh stated that his behavior was reprehensible. "A man with no respect for women, a lawless individual, has now been portrayed as a national hero, while my client, who is a hero in reel life, is being vilified as a villain," Nagesh said.

The lawyer also highlighted alleged procedural lapses in the investigation, including delays in conducting an inquest and a postmortem examination of the body, which was discovered by a security guard on June 9. Furthermore, Nagesh refuted claims that Renukaswamy had been abducted on Darshan's orders, asserting that the victim had voluntarily travelled from Chitradurga to Bengaluru. Justice S Vishwajith Shetty is set to hear further arguments on Darshan's regular bail plea on November 28.

According to police, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to his friend Pavithra Gowda, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June 9. Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.

According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries. Police have said Pavithra, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy's murder, claiming that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime. Darshan was arrested on June 11. His friend Pavithra Gowda and 15 others are co-accused in the case.

The 47-year-old actor is currently out on interim bail. He walked out of Ballari jail on October 30 after being imprisoned for more than four months, hours after the Karnataka High Court gave him relief for six weeks on medical grounds, to undergo spine surgery. Pavithra is lodged in Bengaluru prison, and others in various jails of the state; some of them had recently got bail.