Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who has been arrested in a murder case, had allegedly asked three other men to take blame for the crime in exchange of cash, police said. The actor, who was arrested on Tuesday, offered the men five lakh rupees each to implicate themselves in the case.
The body of 33-year-old Renuka Swamy, was found in a drain at the Sumanahalli Bridge in Bengaluru. A food delivery agent who noticed dogs gnawing at a body called the police.
Renuka Swamy had allegedly sent obscene texts to Darshan’s co-star and girlfriend Pavithra Gowda. The online harassment and use of objectionable language are now being probed as potential triggers for the ghastly murder.
Darshan hired Raghavendra alias Raghu, the convenor of his fan club in Chitradurga, to gather information about Renuka Swamy, they said. The victim’s wife also alleged it was Raghu who picked him up from near their house.
Before being murdered, Renuka Swamy was subjected to a brutal assault, bound with ropes, and savagely beaten with wooden sticks in a shed, cops said in their complaint.
Thirteen people, including Darshan and Pavithra Gowda, have been arrested.
Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda has said that they will do a detailed probe in the case in accordance with law and bring the truth out, he said. “The guilty should be punished mercilessly as per law.”
The police have been given a free hand to take action against Darshan and other accused in accordance with the law, said the state’s Home Minister G Parameshwara.
The incident has sent shockwaves through the Kannada film industry with the state’s top inductry body demanding that Darshan’s movies be not released.
Darshan, popularly known as the ‘Challenging Star’, has acted in several commercial and critically-hit projects like Kariya (2003), Namma Preethiya Ramu (2003), Tarak (2017), Yajamana (2019) and Kurukshetra (2019).
