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Renukaswamy murder case: Supreme Court bans media from publishing chargesheet | News from India

High Court of Karnataka

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued an interim order restraining media companies from accessing media. | File photo

3 minutes reading time Last updated: September 10, 2024 | 2:48 p.m. IS

The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued an interim order restraining the media from broadcasting, printing or publishing any information from the chargesheet against Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, an accused along with 16 others in the Renukaswamy murder case.

“The restriction will remain in place until the next hearing.”

Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, presiding over the single-judge bench, passed the order on a petition filed by the 47-year-old actor, who had urged the court to restrain media organisations from disseminating confidential details of the chargesheet and other materials collected during the investigation.

The case is pending before a district court.

The Supreme Court observed that the media continued to disclose confidential information despite an interim order issued by a lower court on August 27 in a suit filed by Darshan's wife Vijayalakshmi. The court found the plaintiff's arguments to be valid and ordered that the media, identified as defendants 3 to 40, should not publish any details from the chargesheet until the next hearing.

In its decision, the Supreme Court referred to the 2010 judgment of the Supreme Court in Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma vs. State (NCT of Delhi) and Section 5 of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995. It also cited an earlier judgment of a coordinate bench of the Karnataka High Court.

The court directed the Union of India to inform the media houses about this judgment.

Darshan was arrested on June 11, 2024, in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case and has been in judicial custody since June 22. He is currently lodged in Ballari Jail.

According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra Gowda (Darshan's friend and co-accused), which infuriated Darshan and allegedly led to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain adjacent to a flat in Sumanahalli on June 9.

Raghavendra, one of the accused, who is a member of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had taken Renukaswamy to a shed in RR Nagar on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.

According to the autopsy report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died of shock and haemorrhage due to multiple blunt injuries.

According to police sources, Pavithra, who is the main accused, was the “main cause” of Renukaswamy's murder. Investigations have proved that she instigated, conspired with other accused and participated in the crime.

(Only the headline and image of this report may have been edited by Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

First published: September 10, 2024 | 2:48 p.m. IS

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