231 witnesses against Darshan and his colleagues, says K'taka police

BENGALURU: Karnataka Police on Wednesday confirmed the filing of chargesheet with 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 supervised the investigation, said the chargesheet included a list of 231 witnesses, including three eyewitnesses.

“In connection with the Renukaswamy murder case registered at Kamakshipalya police station in Bengaluru, 17 persons have been arrested and the investigating officers are filing the chargesheet against them by collecting eyewitness accounts, circumstantial evidence, technical and scientific and other evidence,” DCP Girish said.

The charge sheet runs to 3,991 pages in seven volumes and ten files. Eight pieces of evidence were presented in the form of reports from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Hyderabad.

97 witnesses have recorded their statements under Sections 161 and 164 of the Penal Code in the court. Of these, 27 have recorded their statements under Section 164 of the Penal Code, the DCP said.

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

The investigation was carried out under the leadership of Bengaluru Commissioner of Police B. Dayananda and Deputy Commissioner of Police (West) Satish Kumar. The team led by ACP (Vijayanagar sub-district) Chandan Kumar has solved the case, he said.

“The case is being investigated further and the evidence collected will be presented before the court under Section 173(8) of Cr PC,” Girish said.

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 when security personnel at a private residence saw the body being dragged behind him by a pack of dogs.