Court rejects Pavithra Gowda’s bail plea

BENGALURU: The 57th Additional City Civil and Sessions Court has rejected the bail applications of the main accused in the Renukaswamy murder case, Pavithra Gowda, and A7 Anukumar after the hearings todayb.

Pavithra Gowda’s lawyer Tomy Sebastian and Anukumar’s lawyer senior advocate Ramaswamy argued for the bail.

On August 19, Pavithra Gowda’s lawyers had filed the bail application, which was adjourned by the court to August 31 for further hearing. On Saturday, the court again heard the application and rejected the bail.

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Prasanna Kumar argued that Pavithra Gowda should not be granted bail, citing Kerala and Kolkata High Court orders that women should not be given special consideration for bail. In the Kerala case, bail was not granted even after the chargesheet was filed, whereas in Ramaswamy’s case, the chargesheet has not been filed yet.

He argued that Pavithra was involved in a ‘cold-blooded murder’ and that other accused had given statements against her. The investigation is still ongoing, and therefore, no accused should be granted bail.

The prosecution argued that as the investigation was still ongoing, granting bail would hamper the investigation. The Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) raised some major points during the court hearing:

– Pavithra Gowda says she did not go to the shed, but CCTV footage shows Darshan taking her to the shed.
– Bloodstains were found on her footwear, which was confirmed by the FSL report.
– Renukacharya was given electric shocks, resulting in 39 injuries.
– Renukacharya’s rib cage was broken, and his lungs were damaged.
– There is evidence of the accused’s presence at the crime scene.
– Pavithra Gowda was involved in the ‘cold-blooded murder’.
– The investigation is still ongoing, and therefore, bail should not be granted to the accused.