Darshan, three others sent to judicial custody till July 4; Jail time again for actor after 13 years

BENGALURU: Sandalwood actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who had been arrested in the Renukaswamy murder case, was on Saturday sent to judicial custody till July 4. This is the second time in 13 years that Darshan will be doing jail time.

After the police custody ended, today, the Annapoorneshwari Nagar police produced Darshan, along with the other arrested accused Dhanraj, Pradosh and Vinay, before the 24 ACCM court judge B C Prasanna Kumar who remanded them to judicial custody after hearing arguments from both sides.

The prosecution also appealed to the court to shift the accused to different jails apprehending trouble if they stayed in the same jail and destruction of evidence. The judge, however, said he will take up the matter on Monday.

Darshan’s girlfriend Pavithra Gowda and some of the other accused have already been handed to judicial custody. The Annapoorneshwari Nagar police had arrested Darshan and 16 others in the Renukaswamy murder case.

Thirteen years ago, Darshan had been jailed for assaulting and threatening his wife Vijayalakshmi. He was arrested by the Kamakshipalya police on September 9, 2011 and had spent the first 14 days in jail and later shifted to the Rajiv Gandhi hospital due to ill health where he stayed for seven days. He finally came out of jail after securing bail in October that year.