Renukaswamy was a menace to society: Darshan to Karnataka High Court

Actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, the main accused in the Renukaswamy murder case, told the Karnataka High Court Tuesday that Renukaswamy, who was allegedly killed following orders by the jailed actor, had a habit of circulating obscene pictures of women and that he was a "menace to society."

Senior Counsel CV Nagesh, who appeared for Darshan, made the arguments while seeking bail for the actor.

Nagesh placed before single-judge Justice S Vishwajith Shetty several messages and photos circulated by Renukaswamy.

Nagesh then said that even the Court cannot dispute that Renukaswamy's conduct, especially given that women in India are considered Goddesses, was detestable.

"A man (Renukaswamy) who had no respect no regard, did not want to respect women in society, a lawless person...This man was a menace to society. And now he has been glorified and made into some sort of a national hero in the case, while degrading my (Darshan's) image in the society as a villain. Even though, in reel life I am a hero," Nagesh said.

However, Nagesh added that he was not claiming even for a moment that because of Renukaswamy's character, one had a "license to kill him."

Nagesh also claimed that the police had committed several lapses while probing Renukaswamy's death and that they had not conducted an inquest and did not send the dead body for postmortem until three days after it was found by a local security guard.

The Senior Counsel further refuted the allegation that Renukaswamy had been abducted following Darshan's instructions. He told the Court that the deceased had willingly travelled from his hometown in Chithradurga to Bengaluru.

The dead body of 33-year-old auto-driver Renukaswamy was found on June 9. It is alleged that he died owing to injuries sustained in an attack carried out on Darshan's instructions. The actor allegedly called upon his fans to accost Renukaswamy for making derogatory comments against his alleged partner, Pavithra Gowda, on social media.

Darshan and his co-accused have applied for regular bail from the High Court challenging an order of the sessions court in Bengaluru that rejected their bail applications on October 14 this year.

Session judge Jaishankar had rejected the bail applications filed by Darshan, Gowda and co-accused Lakshman and Nagaraju.

On October 30 this year, Justice Shetty had granted interim bail to Darshan for six weeks to enable him to undergo a surgery.

Darshan was arrested on June 11 and was lodged in the Ballari Prison until he secured the interim bail. 

The High Court will hear further arguments on Darshan's bail on November 28.