Renukaswamy murder case: Plaint registered after actor Darshan's aides threaten witnesses

BENGALURU: Police registered a fresh complaint Saturday against Darshan's aides and others for allegedly threatening witnesses in the Renuka Swamy murder case, reports Rajiv Kalkod.
Darshan's fan Renuka Swamy was brutally attacked and killed following his derogatory comments on the actor's girlfriend Pavithra Gowda, who is also jailed.
Citing security issues, special public prosecutor also requested the court to shift four accused persons, who are also witnesses in the case, to another prison.Five accused deposed before court on Friday and Saturday to record their statements.
‘Fans of Darshan inside prison could harm suspects’
The statements were recorded under CrPC 164 and can’t be changed in future. “The statements explain when and how Darshan and others entered the shed in Pattanagere, where Renuka Swamy was locked up, and assaulted him,” a source said.
Special public prosecutor Prasanna Kumar P urged that T Ravishankar, V Kartik alias Kappe, R Keshavamurthy, and Nikhil Nayak be shifted to Tumakuru district prison.
“These accused persons face threat to their lives from the other co-accused in the case. The names of the accused weren’t mentioned in the remand application because of security reasons. Also, there are many fans of Darshan inside the prison and they could harm these suspects.”
Judge Vijaykumar Jatla adjourned the matter to Monday for consideration.
Meanwhile, 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. Also, police said they would get a new sim card of Renuka Swamy. “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.
Darshan and three of his associates, all arrested on charges of murder, were remanded in judicial custody and packed off to the Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara on Saturday.