A Bengaluru court on Thursday extended the judicial custody of arrested Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, his friend Pavithra Gowda and 15 associates in the Renukaswamy murder case till August 14.
The 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court, presided over by Judge Vishwanath C Gowder, issued the order after all the accused persons appeared for the hearing via video conference from Parappana Agrahara and Tumkur jails.
According to the police, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Gowda, which enraged Darshan and prompted him to plan and execute his murder.
Renukaswamy’s body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June 9. One of the accused, Raghavendra, who is part of Darshan’s fan club in Chitradurga, brought the fellow admirer of Darshan to a shed in R R Nagar in Bengaluru on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that Renukaswamy was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries. Police sources said Pavithra Gowda, who is accused number one, was the major cause for Renukaswamy’s murder. They said that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated the other accused, conspired with them, and also took part in the crime.
