A video of popular Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, arrested in connection with the murder of his fan, assaulting and threatening a businessman at a pub in Mysuru went viral. The incident occurred on February 26 last year.
According to the police, Darshan and his aides were at the pub when a businessman named Yeshwant and his family arrived to celebrate his wife's birthday. Around 12:30 am, Yeshwant requested the disco jockey (DJ) to play songs of the late Kannada actor Puneeth Rajkumar. This request supposedly triggered Darshan and his aides.
An argument broke out with Darshan and his aides demanding that only songs from his movies would be played. Tension escalated quickly, with the actor and his group allegedly abusing and threatening both Yeshwant and the DJ, as shown in the video.
An FIR was registered against Darshan’s aides. However, no FIR was filed against Darshan at that time. Later, the police clarified that Darshan was indeed involved in the altercation.
On June 11, Darshan and his friend Pavithra Gowda were arrested in connection with the murder of his 33-year-old fan Renukaswamy.
Renukaswamy, an autorickshaw driver and a member of Darshan's fan club, was allegedly kidnapped from Chitradurga district on June 8 after sending derogatory messages to Gowda. His body was later found near Sumanahalli Bridge in Bengaluru.
Sources told India Today TV earlier that Darshan was partying at a pub in Bengaluru on the day of Renukaswamy's murder. The actor later went to the shed after partying where Renukaswamy was allegedly kidnapped and tortured before his death, they said.
A post-mortem report of Renukaswamy revealed that he was tortured and given electric shocks before his death. Details of the alleged torture were disclosed by Dhanraj, who was arrested in connection with the case on June 16.
The police have so far arrested 19 people, including Darshan and Gowda, in the case.
