Actress Pavithra taken into custody, Darshan spotted at K’taka-TN border

The Supreme Court cancelled bail for Kannada actor Darshan, Pavithra Gowda and others in the Renukaswamy murder case, ordering their immediate custody. Police detained Gowda after the verdict, while Darshan remains untraceable. The victim, a fan, was allegedly murdered over obscene messages

Bengaluru: Kannada actress Pavithra Gowda, one of the key accused in Renukaswamy murder case, was taken into police custody on Thursday after her bail was cancelled by the Supreme Court.

According to police sources, a team reached Gowda’s house soon after the news broke that the bail of all the accused in the murder case was cancelled. She was taken into custody.

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While Kannada actor Darshan is yet to be arrested by the police, he was reportedly sighted at the Punajanur check post in his four-wheeler on Thursday at the Karnataka-Tamil Nadu border.

Observing that persons regardless of popularity are equal before the law, the Supreme Court on Thursday cancelled the bail granted to actor Darshan and other accused in the murder case.

The top court directed the authorities to take Darshan and other accused into custody forthwith and ordered that the trial be conducted expeditiously.

According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to 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, 2024.

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.

Police sources said Gowda, 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 the other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime.