Prasanna Kumar appointed Special Public Prosecutor in trial against actor Darshan

P Prasanna Kumar was recently appointed as Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the Renukaswamy murder case, in which Sandalwood actor Darshan Thoogudeepa is among the accused..In 2016, Kumar was appointed as Special Public Prosecutor to represent the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) before courts. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) appointed him to a similar role the same year. In 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also engaged him as a Special Public Prosecutor. He is presently leading arguments for the CBI in a petition challenging the withdrawal of consent to investigate allegations of corruption against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. The Karnataka High Court has reserved judgment in the matter and is yet to pronounce its verdict..Born on May 2, 1979, Prasanna Kumar completed his BA.LL.B from the University College of Law Bangalore and later secured a postgraduate diploma in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) from NALSAR University, Hyderabad. He enrolled as an advocate on August 25, 2001, and started his legal practice under Senior Advocate CH Jadhav, who was a former State Public Prosecutor and a standing counsel for the CBI. He regularly appears before trial courts in Karnataka and the Karnataka High Court..During his career, he has handled many high-profile cases including those involving allegations of illegal mining, the stamp paper scam case involving Karim Lal Telgi, demonetisation cases, I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam-related case, and a case concerning the illegal sale of properties of the Mysore Maharaja.Kumar was also engaged to represent the NIA in the DJ Halli-KG Halli riot case, the Mysore court bomb blast case, the Church Street bomb blast case, the case concerning the murder of RSS worker Rudresh, and the case concerning BJP worker Praveen Nettaru’s murder.He has also represented the ED in the cases filed against Chinese technology company Xiaomi and US-based Devas Multimedia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.He was SPP in the cases concerning BJP MLA Ramesh Jarakiholi (who faced allegations in a sex-for-job scam) and police sub-inspector recruitment scam. He was also the SPP for the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in the 2020 Bitcoin scam case..In his latest assignment, Kumar will represent the State in court proceedings against actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and others who face allegations of being involved in the murder of Renukaswamy.It is alleged that Renukaswamy died from injuries sustained in an attack carried out on Darshan's instructions after he made derogatory comments against the actor's girlfriend Pavithra Gowda (also an accused) on social media.There are a total of seventeen persons accused in the case.On Thursday, the police custody of Darshan and three others accused was extended by a trial court till June 22. Eleven others accused were sent to judicial custody. Two other accused persons were earlier sent to judicial custody after their police custody period ended.