Renukaswamy murder: Heads roll after public outrage over Darshan Thoogudeepa's cozy jail picture leaked online

Nine prison officials, including the chief jail superintendent and a jail superintendent, were suspended on Monday for allegedly giving special treatment to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is currently in judicial custody in the Renukaswamy murder case.

Kannada actor Darshan, who is jailed for the alleged murder of a fan, made headlines again on Sunday after a picture of him sitting on a lawn in the jail surfaced online. The jailed film star was seen smoking a cigarette and holding a mug while chatting with other inmates sitting next to him.

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The undated picture triggered a storm on the internet as people were angry about the inexplicable privileges given to a convict. A video of Darshan talking to someone through video call is also reportedly doing the rounds on the internet.

Darshan is accused of the infamous murder of Renukaswamy and is being held as a pretrial prisoner in the Parappana Agrahara Jail in Bengaluru.

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara termed this a “failure” of the officials concerned and ordered an inquiry. Seven prison officials have been suspended as of Monday.

“Seven officers have already been suspended. After we took further information following a visit to the site, Chief Jail Superintendent Sheshumurthy and Warden Mallikarjun Swamy have been suspended as it was a matter of negligence on their part,” the minister said. Other suspended officers besides Chief Jail Superintendent V Seshumurthy and Warden Mallikarjun Swamy are Jail Wardens Sharan Basappa Amingad and Prabhu S Khandelwal, Assistant Jail Wardens LS Kuppeswamy, Srikanth Talwar, Senior Wardens Venkappa, Sampath Kumar and Warden K Basappa.

Why is Darshan in prison?

Renukaswamy, the 33-year-old auto driver who was allegedly kidnapped and murdered in a hut in Chitradurga by a gang hired by Kannada actor Darshan.

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Renukaswamy allegedly sent obscene messages to Pavithra Gowda to tarnish Darshan's relationship with his wife. Gowda tipped off Darshan, who hired members of one of his fan clubs to track down and abduct Renukaswamy. His body was found in Bengaluru on June 9.

A total of 17 people, including Darshan and his friend Pavithra Gowda, are currently in custody in connection with the murder case.