Darshan 'admits' to paying money in Renukaswamy murder case, say sources

Bengaluru, June 19: Kannada superstar Darshan has admitted to his involvement in the Renukaswamy murder case as per the remand copy submitted to the 24th ACMM court, stated sources Wednesday, adding that he has confessed to giving money to other accused.

The remand copy was submitted to the court seeking judicial custody of the 15th accused Karthik aka Kappe and the 17th accused Nikhil Nayak.

As per the remand copy, Darshan had given Rs 30 lakh to the accused, Pradosh, to manage the police and lawyers, and to pay those who disposed of the body. The police have seized the money from Pradosh's residence.

With the arrest of all 17 accused in the case, the police have registered charges under several IPC sections, including 302 (murder), 201 (causing disappearance of evidence, giving false information), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 364 (kidnapping), 355 (using criminal force), 384 (extortion), 184 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), and 148 read with 149 (guilty of rioting, being armed with a deadly weapon).

The doctors, who conducted the postmortem of Renukaswamy's body, have stated that the death was due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries sustained. Further, the viscera samples have been sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for further analysis.

The probe revealed that the accused, Pradosh, had thrown the mobile phones of Renukaswamy and the accused Raghavendra into a gutter.

Raghavendra had kidnapped Renukaswamy from Chitradurga and brought him to Bengaluru following Darshan's instructions. Fire Force and Emergency Services personnel have launched an operation to recover the mobile phones from the gutter.

Darshan’s wife, Vijayalaxmi, has handed over his shoes, which he wore on the day of the crime, to the police. The 15th and 17th accused, Karthik aka Kappe (27) and Nikhil Nayak (21) have been sent to judicial custody.

(IANS)