The Karnataka Police on Wednesday filed a chargesheet against Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, his partner Pavithra Gowda and 15 others in connection with a murder case, The Hindu reported.
All 17 are currently in prison for their alleged involvement in the murder of a 33-year-old man named Renukaswamy, who was a fan of the actor. Renukaswamy had allegedly been sending abusive messages and comments to Gowda.
On June 9, Renukaswamy’s body was recovered from a drain in the Summanahalli area of Bengaluru. Thoogudeepa was arrested on June 11 for the alleged murder.
On Wednesday, Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) S Girish told The Indian Express that a 3,991-page chargesheet, along with forensic reports, had been submitted to the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at around 10.45 am.
While Gowda was named as the primary accused person in the chargesheet, Thoogudeepa was listed as the second, the newspaper reported quoting an unidentified police official.
The 17 accused persons have been booked for murder, abduction, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, among other charges. The chargesheet also lists 231 witnesses, The Hindu reported.
The chargesheet claims that an analysis of call records and mobile tower locations of the accused persons proved their presence at the crime scene and established a criminal conspiracy in the matter, The Hindu reported.
Photographs of Renukaswamy’s body were also recovered from the phone of one of the accused persons, according to the newspaper.
Renukaswamy had used a false ID on social media platform Instagram to send abusive messages and photographs to Gowda, the chargesheet said, adding that this was the motive for his abduction and murder.
It added that Gowda told her assistant Pavan about the messages, who then told Thoogudeepa. The actor subsequently asked Raghavendra, who is the president of his fans’ association in Chitradurga, to bring Renukaswamy to Bengaluru.
Renukaswamy was allegedly abducted and taken to a parking shed at Pattanagere on June 8, according to the chargesheet. Thoogudeepa and Gowda, along with their associates, then tortured him to death, it claimed.
Renukaswamy’s DNA was discovered on the clothes of some of the accused, including Gowda, which is a key piece of evidence, another unidentified police official told The Hindu.
The chargesheet was filed days after a Bengaluru court on August 27 allowed the police to shift Thoogudeepa to the Ballari district prison from Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru after reports that he was being given preferential treatment in custody.
Nine central jail officials in Bengaluru were suspended after a photograph showing Thoogudeepa sitting on a prison lawn in the company of three other inmates was widely shared on social media.
The recording of a video call allegedly made by the actor from prison was also widely shared online, prompting the Prisons and Correctional Services Department to launch an investigation.
Three first information reports were filed in the matter, including one against Thoogudeepa.
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