Supreme Court cancels Kannada actor Darshan's bail in Renukaswamy murder case, says ‘no one is above the law'

Time of India

8 hours ago

The Supreme Court on Thursday, August 14, cancelled Kannada actor Darshan's bail in the Renukaswamy murder case and stated that 'no one is above the law'. The court also revoked the bail granted to actress Pavithra Gowda and five others. They are Nagaraju R., Anu Kumar alias Anu, Lakshman M, Jagadeesh alias Jagga, and Pradoosh S. Rao alias Pradoosh.
Supreme Court cancels Darshan's bail
In December 2024, the Karnataka High Court had granted bail to actor Darshan in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case. Now, nearly eight months later, the Supreme Court has overturned the judgment. This essentially means that Darshan must 'surrender or face arrest'. Earlier today, a bench comprising Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan cancelled the bail and stated that the High Court's order was 'legally and procedurally flawed'. The ruling attacked the earlier decision for failing to record any 'special or cogent reasons' as required under Sections 302 and 34 of the IPC. It stated that the original verdict had left out crucial facts.
ದಸರಾ ಸಡಗರದ ವೇಳೆ ಬಹಳಷ್ಟು ಬಾರಿ ಅಂಬಾರಿ ಹೊತ್ತು ತನ್ನ ಗಜಗಾಂಭೀರ್ಯಕ್ಕೆ ಹೆಸರುವಾಸಿಯಾಗಿದ್ದ ಅರ್ಜುನ ಕಳೆದ ವರ್ಷ ನಡೆದ ಕಾಡಾನೆ ಕಾರ್ಯಾಚರಣೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಾವನ್ನಪ್ಪಿರುವುದು ತಿಳಿದೇ ಇದೆ. ಆತನ ಸಮಾಧಿಗೆ ಯಾರು ದಿಕ್ಕು-ದೆಸೆ ಇಲ್ಲದಂತೆ ಭಾಸವಾಗುತ್ತಿದೆ.ಆತನಿಗೆ ಸಲ್ಲಬೇಕಾದ ಗೌರವ ಆದಷ್ಟು ಬೇಗ ದೊರೆಯಲಿ. ಇನ್ನೇನು ಮಳೆಗಾಲ ಶುರುವಾಗುವ ಮುನ್ನ… pic.twitter.com/xKScAy3mMW
The Bench also stated that the 'well-founded allegations' of witness intimidation, which were backed by forensic and circumstantial evidence, made it necessary to cancel Darshan's bail. The bench further stated that not doing so would pose 'an imminent threat to the fair administration of justice.'
In a separate statement, Justice Pardiwala made it clear that the court is not in favour of Darshan being given 'five star treatment'. He added that if the court comes to know of any such activities, the jail superintendent will be suspended.
In July, the same Bench had reserved judgment on the matter after slamming the High Court's exercise of discretion in granting bail.
About the Renukaswamy murder case
According to police records, Darshan and his aides had allegedly abducted Renukaswamy– a fan from Chitradurga– in June 2024. The police further claim that he was beaten up and tortured on multiple days. Renukaswamy later died from the injuries and his body is said to have been dumped in a drain.
The sessions court had earlier refused to grant bail to the accused. This prompted them to approach the High Court, which granted bail in December 2024. The decision has now been nullified/overruled by the Supreme Court