Last Moments Of Renukaswamy Before Being Murdered By Darshan: 'Shirtless, Ruptured Testicle'

Newly surfaced photos show 33-year-old auto driver Renukaswamy moments before his death in June, allegedly orchestrated by Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa.

In one of the images, Renukaswamy is seen looking directly at the camera, visibly frightened and pleading for his life.

Renukaswamy's body was found on June 9 near a flyover in Bengaluru. According to the police, the auto driver, who was a fan of Darshan, was kidnapped and murdered by a gang allegedly at the actor's behest after Renukaswamy sent offensive messages on social media to actor Pavithra Gowda, rumored to be Darshan's partner.

The post-mortem report revealed that Renukaswamy was brutally attacked with wooden clubs and died "due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries sustained."

The report also noted that he suffered a ruptured testicle from being kicked and had been subjected to electric shocks before his death.

15 individuals, including Darshan and Pavithra Gowda, have been arrested in connection with the murder. Blood stains were found on Darshan's clothes and Pavithra Gowda's footwear, according to a chargesheet filed by the Bengaluru Police.

The chargesheet, which was submitted at a local court and includes around 230 pieces of evidence, has intensified the case against the accused.

Darshan's judicial custody is set to end on September 9, with the case drawing widespread attention due to the involvement of high-profile individuals.

'Watertight' chargesheet filed against Darshan

Meanwhile, a 3,991-page chargesheet (with seven volumes and 10 files) was submitted to the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court.

"We have arrested 17 people in this case who are in judicial custody. There are three direct eye witnesses; 27 witnesses have given their statements before the court and other witnesses have recorded their statements before the police," Bengaluru Police Commissioner B Dayananda said.

"We have arrested 17 people in this case who are in judicial custody. There are three direct eye witnesses; 27 witnesses have given their statements before the court and other witnesses have recorded their statements before the police," Dayananda said.

"We have sent several materials pertaining to the investigation to FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory) here and CFSL (Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Hyderabad). We have received their reports but some reports from CFSL are yet to come," he said.

In a statement, the police said that the chargesheet against the 17 accused has been filed on the basis of the accounts of eye-witnesses, circumstantial, technical, scientific and other evidence collected by the investigators.

The evidence collected has been submitted to the court under section 173 (8) of CrPC (Code of Criminal Procedure), which gives unrestrained right to the investigating agency for further probe, it said.

According to police sources, analysis of call detail records and tower location of the mobile phones of the accused establishes their presence at the scene of crime and besides the witnesses, they have enough evidence to prove the presence of the accused with Renukaswamy on the day of incident.

The victim's bloodstains were found on the clothes of some accused, including that of Pavithra Gowda, and this fact has been confirmed with the help of reports received from the FSL, which is a crucial evidence and has been mentioned in the chargesheet.

The chargesheet also mentions details about photographs of the victim's body which was recovered from the mobile phone of one of the accused. These pictures were allegedly taken at the scene of crime (parking shed) after Renukaswamy's death and sent to other prime accused in the case, police sources said.

Dress, shoes and money used by Darshan to cover up the case has also been recovered by the police, details of which have been mentioned in the chargesheet, they said.

The victim was using a false instagram ID to send lewd messages and photos to Gowda, and she told this to her assistant, Pavan, who informed Darshan about it.

(With PTI inputs)