Fan murder case: 231 witnesses against Darshan & associates, say Karnataka Police

Bengaluru, Sep 4 (IANS) Karnataka Police on Wednesday confirmed the submission of the charge sheet to the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) against jailed Kannada superstar Darshan, his partner Pavithra Gowda and 15 others in the sensational fan murder case.

DCP West S. Girish, who monitored the investigation, stated that including three eyewitnesses, a list of 231 witnesses is mentioned in the charge sheet.

“In connection with the Renukaswamy murder case registered with Kamakshipalya police station in Bengaluru, 17 persons are arrested and the investigation officers are submitting the charge sheet regarding the collection of eyewitnesses, circumstantial, technical and scientific and other evidence against them,” DCP Girish stated.

The charge sheet contains 3,991 pages of seven volumes and 10 files. There are eight pieces of evidence submitted in the form of reports from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad.

Ninety-seven witnesses have recorded their statements under Sections 161 and 164 of the Cr PC before the court. Among them 27 have recorded their statements under Section 164 of the Cr PC, the DCP stated.

The eight other government officers, including the tehsildar, doctors, RTO and engineers are named as witnesses. A total of 56 police officers are also named as witnesses in the charge sheet.

The investigation was conducted under the guidance of Bengaluru Police Commissioner B. Dayananda and Additional Police Commissioner (West) Satish Kumar. ACP (Vijayanagar sub-division) Chandan Kumar led team had cracked the case, he stated.

“Further investigation would be taken up in the case and the evidence gathered would be submitted to the court under Section 173 (8) of the Cr PC,” Girish stated.

The gruesome murder of Darshan's fan Renukaswamy took place on June 8 in Bengaluru.

Renukaswamy was kidnapped from his hometown, Chitradurga, brought to Bengaluru, kept in a shed, and tortured to death.

After the murder, his body was thrown into a canal. The incident came to light after the security personnel of a private apartment building saw the body being dragged by a pack of dogs.