BENGALURU: Kannada film actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and his partner Pavithra Gowda were taken into custody and subsequently arrested by the Bengaluru police on June 11 for their alleged involvement in the murder of 33-year-old pharmacist Renukaswamy, who was a fan of Darshan. It is alleged that Renukaswamy sent abusive messages to Pavithra on Instagram after she revealed her decade-old relationship with the actor. Darshan who has been married to Vijayalakshmi since 2003 has been in a relationship with Pavithr.

As per the police when Darshan learns of the messages, he finds out that Renukaswamy lives in Chitradurga, 200 km away. Darshan then allegedly contacts Raghavendra, who heads his fan club there and asks him to bring Renukaswamy to Bengaluru. Allegedly, Renukaswamy is taken to a shed in RR Nagar, where he’s assaulted and dies of multiple injuries. His body is dumped in a drain near Summanahalli. According to the police, Darshan and Pavithra were present at the shed during the assault and killing.

According to the sequence of events on June 9, the police get a call after a food delivery boy spots the body in the drain due to stray dogs. Police traced the body and registered a murder case after noticing injury marks on the body. The next day two men turn up at Kamakshipalya police station and claim they killed Renukaswamy at a shed near RR Nagar over a financial dispute. After police pull call records, Darshan and Pavithra’s alleged connection to the case is explored. They find out that Renukaswamy was brought to Bengaluru on Darshan’s behest, following which Darshan is picked up from a hotel in Mysuru and brought to the Annapoorneshwari Nagar police station for questioning. Pavithra is also picked up by police from her residence near RR Nagar. 

The police then also arrested other accused, including K Pawan, Nandish, Karthik, Keshavamurthy, Nikhil Naik, M Lakshmana - president of the Chitradurga unit of Darshan Fan Association Raghavendra alias Raghu, R Nagaraju, and M Deepak Kumar, were arrested for their alleged involvement. After medical tests, all the accused, Pavithra listed as A1 and Darshan as A2, are produced before the court, where a judge remands them to police custody until June 17.