BENGALURU: Arrested Kannada superstar Darshan's "partner" Pavithra Gowda, the prime accused in the fan murder case, had provoked, conspired, and even participated in the brutal crime, revealed the latest remand application submitted in the court.
The remand application states that the investigation revealed Pavithra Gowda, who is currently in judicial custody, actively participated in committing the murder of Renukaswamy.
Previously, it was believed that she had only beaten the victim with slippers but had been present while Renukaswamy was hacked to death.
The remand application further states that Pavithra Gowda, 33, third accused Puttaswamy alias Pavan K., 29, fourth accused Raghavendra, 43, fifth accused Nandeesha, 28, sixth accused Jagadish alias Jagga, 36, seventh accused Anukumar alias Anu, 25, eleventh accused Nagaraju, twelfth accused Lakshmana, thirteenth accused Deepak, and sixteenth accused Keshavamurthy are directly involved in the heinous act of murder and have scant respect for the law, as per the evidence.
Darshan, the second accused in the case, involved his fans in the crime, it said, that physical, technical, and scientific evidence gathered by the police shows that the accused inhumanly and fatally attacked Renukaswamy and murdered him.
After committing the murder, the accused used their influence and money to dispose of the body and tried to destroy the evidence, the remand application said, adding that also tried to frame other individuals and escape the case.
With the common intention of committing the crime, they destroyed physical, technical, and scientific evidence and attempted to destroy further evidence, according to the police.
The police have also brought to the court’s notice that Pavithra Gowda and Darshan, along with other accused, are using a group of fans to obstruct the investigation. The technical evidence collected has proven the direct involvement of the accused.
The remand application mentions that Darshan, ninth accused Dhanraj D. alias Raju, 27, tenth accused Vinay V., 38, and fourteenth accused Pradoosh, 40, are not cooperating with the investigation and are hiding information from the police.
The police also stated that they recovered Rs 37.40 lakh in cash from Darshan’s residence on June 19, and further investigation is needed to identify the source of the money.
Darshan contacted many individuals after the crime, and the police needed to ascertain the intention behind these calls. Police have recovered a very important piece of evidence from the mobile phone of accused Vinay, and the investigation is on to find out who sent the message to him.
Darshan, Pavithra Gowda, and 15 others were arrested on charges of murdering Renukaswamy, a resident of Chitradurga. The probe revealed that Renukaswamy was a big fan of Darshan and had sent derogatory messages to Pavithra Gowda on social media. The victim was allegedly kidnapped, brought to Bengaluru, kept in a shed, and tortured to death.