Kannada actor Darshan Tugudipa, who is in judicial custody in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case, has filed a petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking directions to jail authorities to provide him with home-cooked food in prison. He has also sought cutlery, clothes, bedding and books. (Also Read: Sumalatha Ambareesh shocked by Darshan’s arrest in murder case; says he is like her ‘son’: I know him as a loving person)
Darshan’s health related plea
In his petition, Darshan has also said that he has lost several kilos of weight as he is unable to eat and digest the food provided in the jail. It is also said that the actor was suffering from diarrhea and the jail doctors suspected food poisoning.
According to the petitioner, Section 30 of the Karnataka Prisons Act, 1963, allows undertrial prisoners to obtain these items subject to scrutiny and under rules approved by the IGP (Prisons). The petition is yet to be listed for hearing.
Chargesheet yet to be filed
Karnataka Home Minister Gangadharaiya Parameshwara recently spoke about Darshan while addressing the media in Karnataka. He told reporters that the accused have been apprehended but the investigation cannot be rushed.
“The accused have been arrested, investigation is underway, evidence is being gathered, then a chargesheet will be filed. Can this be fast-forwarded just because the media has said so? There are procedures, a chargesheet will be filed after sufficient evidence is gathered. I have already said there is no need to protect anyone in this case, and it will not be done,” he was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
Darshan arrested for alleged murder
According to police sources, Renukaswamy, 33, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Darshan’s close friend Pavithra Gowda, who is a co-accused in the case, which angered the actor and he allegedly killed her. Her body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June 9.
Raghavendra, one of the accused who was part of Darshan’s fan club in Chitradurga, brought Renukaswamy to a shed in RR Nagar in Karnataka on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that she was allegedly tortured and killed on June 8. According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and bleeding as a result of multiple blunt injuries.
Police sources said accused number one was the “main reason” for the murder of Pavithra Renukaswamy, claiming that investigations have proved that she instigated the other accused, conspired with them and participated in the crime. All the accused will remain in judicial custody till July 18.
