A food delivery executive out for a Sunday-morning-breakfast parcel on June 9, was headed to one of the residences in Sattva Anugraha, an upmarket apartment complex on the Outer Ring Road (ORR) in Bengaluru’s western suburbs. On his way, he saw street dogs pull at what looked like the body of a man in a storm water drain. He alerted the security guards, who in turn called the police.
Based on the complaint of Kevalram Dorji, the security officer of the apartment complex, the police recovered the body riddled with injuries. It was stuck on a bushy slope off the road and had not fallen into the running water. There was no identification on him. The CCTV footage from the apartment complex gave leads on two suspicious vehicles. As is routine, the police secured the body in a morgue and put out an advertisement with photographs in newspapers that evening, seeking information. It might have ended up as one of the many unidentified bodies in a metropolis like Bengaluru, but the police were in for a surprise on the evening of June 10.
At about 7 p.m. that day, four men walked into the Kamakshipalya police station and confessed to the murder of the man they said was K.S. Renukaswamy, 33. A resident of Chitradurga, a district headquarters in central Karnataka, around 200 kilometres away from Bengaluru, Renukaswamy worked at a retail pharmacy chain. Raghavendra, 43, also from Chitradurga; Karthik, 27; Keshavamurthy, 27; and Nikhil Naik, 21, all from Bengaluru, claimed they had a financial dispute with the deceased, had abducted and brought him to the city, beat him up, and he had died.
Police action
The police were sceptical: “The victim did not have a profile which could have led to his murder due to a financial dispute. Such surrenders usually happen only in underworld cases,” said a senior police official, who has been leading the investigation
Following sustained interrogation, the four told a different story. “What they revealed came as a shocker to us,” the official said. They said Darshan Thoogudeepa, one of the most popular Kannada cinema actors, had got the victim abducted from Chitradurga, brought him to a shed in Rajarajeshwari Nagar in Bengaluru, and beat him up with his associates, leading to his death.
They said the victim had sent obscene messages to his alleged partner Pavithra Gowda on social media. The actor had sent the four to surrender, paying them to keep his name out, police say. One of the four, Raghavendra, was the president of the Chitradurga District Darshan Fans’ Club.
In the next few hours, the police had arrested seven more people: Vinay V., 38, owner of Stonny Brook resto-bar in Bengaluru, where the actor had been partying on that Saturday afternoon. Vinay’s uncle owns the shed where the victim was allegedly tortured and killed. Deepak, 39, is a partner in the company running the shed and a nephew of a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) city MLA. Pavan K., 29, is an employee of Darshan, working as Gowda’s helper. Pradosh, 40, is a corporate executive and has been Darshan’s friend for about two decades. Nandeesh, 28; Lakshman, 54; and Nagaraju, 41, were allegedly present at the shed and had assaulted the victim.
The next morning, even as Gowda was arrested in Bengaluru, a team of city police arrested Darshan, who was at a hotel in Mysuru for a film shoot.
Darshan is among one of the highest paid actors in the Kannada film industry, called Sandalwood informally. “He did at least two or three movies a year earlier, and was considered a ‘dependable’ hero. Producers invested money in him; exhibitors felt the need for such a hero so that theatres would be busy most of the year. Both the industry and the audience admired him for different reasons,” said Shashidhar Chitradurga, author and film journalist.
Darshan’s most recent action film Kaaterais the industry’s biggest hit this year so far. At election time, politicians flocked to get the D-Boss, as he is popularly known, to campaign for them, especially in southern Karnataka.
Last day at home
At about 2.30 p.m on June 8, Renukaswamy had called his mother Rathnaprabha, 62, over the phone to tell her that he would not come home for lunch, and would return late in the evening. That was their last conversation. His body was brought to Chitradurga three days later.
Renukaswamy had left home around 9 a.m. on Saturday and parked his two-wheeler near Balaji Bar, close to the circle where the roads connecting Chitradurga with Bengaluru and Challakere taluka meet. As per the CCTV camera footage, he got into an autorickshaw, and the vehicle took the Bengaluru route. After a couple of kilometres, the passengers in the autorickshaw and the driver shifted to a taxi.
They have now been identified as Raghavendra, the driver Ravi Shankar, and two of his associates Anu Kumar, 25, and Jagadeesh, 36, all from Chitradurga. Raghavendra had allegedly lured them into the plot promising them a meeting with their idol, Darshan.
Back home, his mother; father, Kashinath S. Shivanagowdru, 75; and wife, Sahana K.S, 26, waited, even as the evening turned to the next day, and there was no sign of him. “We called his friends and the pharmacy, but no one knew anything,” says Shivanagowdru.
As they contemplated lodging a complaint with the police on Monday, Shivanagowdru, who retired as a senior assistant in Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) 17 years ago, got information of his son’s death from the police. “I felt the ground beneath me cave in,” recalled the father, still shaken by what has happened.
Renukaswamy, who was actively involved in the activities of a few Hindutva groups, according to people in the locality, had dropped out of college, where he was studying Commerce. He secured a job in the sales section of a pharmacy company and worked at its outlets in Chitradurga, after undergoing training. “Last year, we got him married to Sahana. June 28 is his wedding anniversary, and we were planning an event to mark the occasion,” said Shivanagowdru.
K.S. Renukaswamy’s mother, wife, and father, at their residence in Chitradurga on June 17, the ninth-day ceremony after his death. | Photo Credit: G.T. Sathish
Instead, on June 17, the family held a ritual in memory of Renukaswamy. “Sorry, the moment I start to speak about my son, I cannot hold back my tears,” Shivanagowdru said. What haunts him most are the reports of torture. “The moment I remember him, I start to imagine how he must have suffered. I imagine him pleading with folded hands, wailing in pain. He must have cried for help; he must have begged them not to torture him.” Then, “His wife is five months pregnant.”
Where it all happened
The now infamous shed, about 300 metres away from the road, is situated on a four-acre plot owned by Pattanagere Jayanna, who has significant land holdings in the Pattanagere village, now subsumed within Rajarajeshwari Nagar, a suburb in west Bengaluru. Intact Autoparc India Pvt Ltd had rented the land parcel. About 400 seized vehicles, including some trucks and buses, allegedly of loan defaulters, are parked in the space. It has a two-storey building at one end and the area is covered by at least eight CCTV cameras.
Police seal the shed were Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor Darshan, was allegedly tortured and murdered. | Photo Credit: K. Murali Kumar
Raghavendra was allegedly instructed to take Renukaswamy to the shed, where at least one movie of Darshan had been shot. Darshan was partying at Stonny Brooks.
Gowda, who runs a boutique, had on January 24, this year, posted pictures with Darshan on social media with the caption, “One decade down; forever to go. #10year. It’s been 10 years of our relationship. Thank you.” A sprinkling of hearts and stars were added. Gowda became a target of trolls. This upset many Darshan fans who sided with his wife, Vijayalakshmi, and wrote messages against Gowda.
Renukaswamy was one of them. Allegedly operating under multiple fake Instagram identities, he had persistently trolled Gowda publicly. Police say he used the account @goutham_ks_1990 to send her obscene messages and pictures. Police have now found that Renukaswamy was a habitual offender and had employed a similar modus operandi with many women. One of them had brought it to the notice of a police official in March 2024, but no action was taken.
These messages enraged Gowda, who allegedly informed her help Pavan. Posing as Gowda, he had chatted with Renukaswamy, managing to extract his mobile number and details of his whereabouts. With this information, Darshan allegedly contacted Raghavendra, seeking his help. Using the photo and the phone number, Raghavendra tracked down Renukaswamy and brought him to the shed, allegedly on the instructions of Darshan.
Darshan then allegedly landed up at the shed with Gowda and several of his associates, including Pavan, the pub owner Vinay, and his friend Pradosh. Police investigations have now revealed that Darshan got Gowda to beat up Renukaswamy and made him apologise. Renukaswamy was later tortured for several hours. Police claim that Deepak, a partner in the company running the shed, who had been out on work, joined them midway.
Past and present offenders
The post-mortem report says that Renukaswamy’s death was “due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries sustained,” say the police. The police’s remand application gives details of the torture. So far, 17 arrests have been made.
Police claim that Pavan took charge of the cover-up, roping in three associates. Late in the night, the trio along with four others, took the body in two SUVs and threw it into the drain. “They assumed it would be washed away, but the body got stuck in the bushes,” a police official said.
Police brought the accused to the spot where Renukaswamy’s body was found, at Sumanahalli in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: Sudhakara Jain
Darshan claims that he only warned Renukaswamy, got Pavithra to slap him, and left the shed, and that he had nothing to do with the murder. However, police claim he was present for much longer. The actor has now reportedly confessed to having paid Pradosh ₹30 lakh for the cover-up. Pradosh allegedly gave ₹5 lakh each to three who surrendered before the police, taking the blame for the murder. They had been promised more money for their families. Police have recovered the money.
Bengaluru City Police Commissioner B. Dayananda said they were confident of the case against the actor, as the arrest was based on strong evidence. “Barring Darshan, who had a domestic abuse case [in 2011, when he was arrested]; and Karthik, who had a petty case; none of the accused have any criminal records,” another senior police officer leading the probe, said. He adds this was the reason they did not know how to cover their tracks.
Fact, fiction, and the film world
Following Darshan’s arrest for murder, social media is abuzz with multiple clips from his films which eerily mirror the happenings in the case. The characters Darshan plays often portray masculinity by punishing those who violate women, by taking the law into their hands. At 6.3 feet and a gym-built body, Darshan’s appeal was at many levels.
“In the initial years people appreciated his screen presence and stunts, in addition to his looks. It was the time when gym culture picked up pace in Karnataka. Young boys who were keen on their physical appearance followed the actor,” said Shashidhar.
Despite being the son of on-screen villain and character-actor Thoogudeepa Srinivas well-known in the 70s and 80s, Darshan started out at the bottom of the film industry pyramid, working as a light boy, when he lost his father at 18. His first break as a lead actor came with the 2002 superhit film Majestic, in which he played an orphaned youth led astray into Bengaluru’s underworld.
With his arrest after the domestic violence case, for which he got bail, his relationship with the media soured, but most of his films continued to rake in money. Days after the domestic violence case, his film Sarathi, in which he was an auto driver fighting to take revenge over his father’s murder, became a blockbuster.
Today, fans stand outside the police station where he is being held, and the police had to impose prohibitory orders around the station. Social media is awash with fan support.
In recent years, Darshan had made an effort to break away from the mould he found himself in, essaying roles of freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna and epic tragic-hero Duryodhana in recent films. These brought him closer to family audiences. His recent films Yajamana, Kranti, and Kaatera, made good business and were hailed for their social messages.
Away from blinding camera lights, Chandrappa, 60, accused person Anu Kumar’s father, collapsed and died on hearing the news of his son’s arrest. Chandrappa was a construction labourer; his wife Jayamma works as a domestic help. In their one-room tenement in Chitradurga, Jayamma says, “My son Anu’s friend Jagadish is Darshan’s fan. He forced Anu to join him for the trip,” she says, weeping.
