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Renukaswamy murder case: Actor Darshan Thoogudeepa tried to obstruct investigation, police told court | Bangalore News

In their remand application, the police alleged that Darshan Thoogudeepa’s friend Pavithra Gowda along with others had instigated and conspired to murder Renukaswamy.

DarshanActor Darshan is produced before a Bengaluru court in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case. (Photo: PTI)

Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa abused his fan base and tried to obstruct the investigation into the murder of his 33-year-old supporter Renukaswamy, the Karnataka Police told a local court in Bengaluru on Thursday. In their remand application, the police also alleged that Thoogudeepa’s friend Pavithra Gowda instigated Renukaswamy’s murder and conspired with others.

On Thursday, the court extended the police custody of four accused in the case – Thoogudeepa, 47, Dhanaraj D, 27, Vinay V, 38, and Pradosh, 40 – after the police said they were not cooperating with the investigation. Though the special public prosecutor had sought four days of remand, the additional chief magistrate extended the remand by two days till July 22.

On June 11 Thoogudeepa was arrested with his friend Gowda and 11 others in connection with the murder of Renukaswamy, a resident of Chitradurga. According to the police, Renukaswamy was murdered for allegedly sending abusive messages and photos to Gowda on Instagram. A total of 17 people have been arrested in this case so far.

According to the remand application, Thoogudeepa contacted many people before and after the alleged crime to obstruct the investigation. However, Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said on Tuesday that he was not pressured by anyone.

The police also informed the court that on June 19, they recovered Rs 40 lakhs from Thoogudeepa – Rs 3,740,000 from Thoogudeepa’s house and Rs 300,000 from his wife. According to the police, one of the accused, Dhanaraj, said in his statement that an “electric shock lamp” was used to administer electric shocks to Renukaswamy. The device was recovered by the police.

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The other arrested accused, Gowda, Nagaraju R, Laxman M, Pawan K, Deepak Kumar M, Nandish, Nikhil Nayak, Raghavendra, Karthik, Keshava Murthy, Ravi, Jagadish alias Jagga and Anu Kumar, have been shifted to Parappana Agrahara Central Jail Complex amid heightened security.

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First uploaded on: 21.06.2024 at 09:53 IST