Fan murder case: Hearing on Darshan’s bail plea adjourned till Thursday

Bengaluru, Oct 9 (IANS) A court here in Karnataka has adjourned the hearing on the bail plea of Kannada superstar Darshan, an accused in the fan murder case, till Thursday.

The Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prasanna Kumar completed his submission and pleaded the court not to grant bail to Darshan.

Darshan’s counsel C.V. Nagesh will make his submission on Thursday. The court has reserved the orders on bail petitions of Darshan’s partner, prime accused Pavithra Gowda, accused Ravishankar, Deepak, Laxman, Nagaraj till October 14.

The SPP submitted to the court not to grant bail to Darshan’s partner Pavithra Gowda, the second accused Darshan, the eighth accused Ravishankar, the eleventh accused Nagaraju and the twelfth accused Laxman.

SPP Prasanna Kumar, in counterarguments to Darshan’s counsel regarding the delay in recording of statements, submitted that 76-79 witnesses worked at the shed. Their mobile tower location and call details along with the accused were tracked to the shed in Pattanagere where the crime was committed. The accused Darshan and Pavithra Gowda had come to the shed in a black Scorpio vehicle.

Darshan in the statement confessed that he had kicked his fan Renukaswamy in the chest and the private parts. He had also mockingly asked his fan whether he would take his wife to Goa.

Rebutting the allegation that the police had fabricated the evidence by delaying the recording of statements and procedures even as the police had prior information, SPP stated, that the accused Pradush had called police sub-inspector (PSI) Vinay on June 9 and asked his suggestion over a financial matters dispute. The PSI had asked him to surrender the accused to the nearest police station. No discussion was made about the scene of the crime.

An FIR was filed by the police after the body of Renukaswamy was found near a gutter on June 10.

On June 11, actor Darshan was arrested in Mysuru. A few other accused were also arrested on the same day and they were questioned.

On June 12, they were taken to the shed where the murder took place and ‘mahajar’ procedures were conducted. On June 13, the watchmen of the shed were questioned, the SPP said.

After the incident, one of the witnesses ran away out of fear. He had gone to Malai Mahadeshwara Hills on June 10, later he reached Kabbal on June 11, then he was in Hassan on June 12 and was in Goa till June 16. After visiting Tirupati, Hubballi he returned to Bengaluru on June 20. The police immediately recorded his statements, the SPP submitted.

The objections were raised on delay in conducting mahajar and post-mortem of the body of Renukaswamy. There is a rule that while conducting these procedures, the family or relatives should be present and the delay was for this reason. However, there was no hindrance in the probe from this, he submitted.

Talking about the injuries, the SPP stated, that only facial injuries were the result of dog bites but the report has shown that 13 injuries were inflicted on his body before the death.

Darshan himself has claimed that he kept Rs 40 lakh cash to manage and twist the evidence, the SPP said.

Taking objection to the argument that the accused were associates of Darshan and the call details should not be considered as evidence, the SPP stated that the Supreme Court has mentioned the significance of the call records and they can’t be undermined.

–IANS

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