Renukaswamy murder case: Eyewitnesses depose before magistrate

BENGALURU: In a significant development in the Renukaswamy case, five witnesses — some of them eyewitnesses — deposed before court.
The statements explain what happened inside the Pattanagere shed where Darshan’s fan Renukaswamy was brutally attacked and killed following his derogatory comments on the star’s girlfriend Pavithra Gowda (who is also jailed).
Statements made under CrPC 164 before a magistrate can’t be changed in future. The person will have to stand by his/her statement during the entire trial. Apart from other physical and digital evidence collected by the investigating agency against the accused persons, these statements play a vital role in describing the crime and the roles of the suspects. “These statements were recorded on Friday and Saturday. The statements explain when and how Darshan and others entered the shed in Pattanagere, where Renukaswamy was locked up, and assaulted him,” a source said.
Four mobiles unsealed
During the two days of police custody, the mobile phones of Darshan, Dhanaraj , Vinay, and Pradosh were examined and efforts were made to retrieve deleted data. Soon after the arrests, their phones had been seized and sealed. “The seals of these seized mobile phones were opened before govt witnesses during the two-day police custody and thoroughly examined. The accused were asked to access their Google and Cloud accounts. But the data are deleted and we’ll retrieve them. We’re looking for videos, pictures, audio and other materials that could relate to the incident,” a senior cop said.
Also, police said they would get a new sim card of Renukaswamy, as his mobile phone is still not found. “We’ve approached the service provider to issue a new sim card for Renuka’s number, with the hope of retrieving the data,” an investigating officer said.