On January 24, 2025, the Supreme Court had refused to put a hold on the High Court’s order but agreed to examine the Karnataka government’s plea questioning its validity.
New Delhi: Today, 18th March-The Supreme Court of India has agreed to hear on April 2 a plea filed by the Karnataka government challenging the bail granted by the Karnataka High Court to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, actress Pavithra Gowda, and 15 others in the Renukaswamy murder case.
A bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan gave this tentative hearing date after advocate Anil C Nishani urgently mentioned the matter on behalf of the Karnataka government.
Supreme Court Earlier Decisions
On January 24, 2025, the Supreme Court had refused to put a hold on the High Court’s order but agreed to examine the Karnataka government’s plea questioning its validity. The court had also issued notices to Darshan and other accused based on the state’s petition, after hearing arguments from senior advocate Sidharth Luthra.
Background
On January 6, 2025, the Karnataka government approached the Supreme Court to challenge the bail granted to Darshan and 16 others in the Renukaswamy murder case. Earlier, on December 13, 2024, the Karnataka High Court had granted bail to all the accused.
Darshan, a 47-year-old Kannada actor, was arrested on June 11, 2024, in connection with the murder of 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a resident of Chitradurga. The victim’s body was found on June 9 near a stormwater drain in Bengaluru.
According to the police, Renukaswamy had allegedly sent obscene messages to Darshan’s associate Pavithra Gowda, which angered the actor. The police probe led to the arrest of Darshan, Pavithra, and 15 others.
The Bengaluru police filed a chargesheet on September 3, 2024, naming Pavithra as Accused No. 1 and Darshan as Accused No. 2. The police claimed that the alleged offensive messages sent to Pavithra were the motive behind the crime.
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The other accused named in the chargesheet include:
- 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)
- Nikhil Nayak (21)
The autopsy revealed that Renukaswamy suffered a brutal attack with wooden clubs, leading to his death “due to shock and haemorrhage resulting from multiple blunt injuries.” The post-mortem also noted that Renukaswamy was kicked, causing a ruptured testicle.
Additionally, the autopsy indicated that Renukaswamy was subjected to electric shocks before his death. Details of this alleged torture emerged during the interrogation of an accomplice, according to sources.
Police seized slippers, clothing, materials, and various documents related to actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who also implicated in the murder, from Pavithra’s residence. It is alleged that Dhanaraj, also known as Raja, a member of Darshan’s group and the ninth accused in the case, administered electric shocks to Renukaswamy. The police recovered an ‘Electric Shock Torch’ from Dhanaraj’s home.
On October 30, 2024, actor Darshan was granted interim bail on medical grounds. As of now, all 17 accused are out on bail.
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