Bengaluru court extends judicial custody of Darshan, other accused till Sept 17
A court here on Friday extended till September 17 the judicial custody of Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa along with his friend Pavithra Gowda and others, who are accused in the Renukaswamy murder case.
All the 17 accused, including Darshan and Pavithra, were produced before the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court through video conferencing from various prisons across the state, where they are lodged, as their judicial custody ended today.
Police on September 4 had submitted to the court a 3,991-page preliminary chargesheet to the court in the case.
The 47-year-old actor is currently lodged in Ballari prison. He was shifted there from the Parappana Agrahara Central jail here by obtaining court permission, after a photograph of him hanging out with three others, including a rowdy-sheeter, on the lawns of the jail had gone viral, sparking an uproar.
In the picture, the actor is seen in a relaxed mood, sitting on a chair and holding a cigarette and a coffee mug. Also, a purported video of Darshan speaking to a person over a video call from the prison too had surfaced on social media.
The court had also permitted shifting of other co-accused in the murder case to various prisons in the state.
Other accused -- Pawan, Raghavendra and Nandish -- are now lodged in Mysuru, Jagadish and Lakshmana in Shivamogga, Dhanraj in Dharwad, Vinay in Vijayapura, Nagaraj in Kalaburagi/Gulbarga Jail, and Pradosh in Belagavi Jail.
Three accused -' Pavithra Gowda, Anukumar, and Deepak -- continue to remain at Parappana Agrahara Central Jail here. Four accused -- Ravi, Karthik, Nikhil and Keshavamurthy -- were earlier shifted to Tumakuru prison and they continue to remain lodged there.
Nine prison officials, including the Chief Superintendent of the Parappana Agrahara jail, were suspended over their "lapses" after a preliminary probe into "special treatment" to Darshan.
Also, three FIRs were registered, including against Darshan, under sections of the Prisons Act and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra, which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June nine.
Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries.
Police sources said Pavithra, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy’s murder and claimed that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Railway official loses Rs 9 lakh online as fraudsters pose as CBI men, present him before 'judge'
Mumbai (PTI): A railway official here lost Rs 9 lakh to cyber fraudsters posing as CBI officers, who told him that he was involved in a money laundering case and then produced him before a "judge" via video call, police said.
The incident occurred on Monday and the victim was kept on a video call by the fraudsters for around 20 hours, an official said.
The 59-year-old victim works as Principal Chief Electrical Engineer (Construction) at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) and stays at Colaba in south Mumbai, he said.
"On September 16 morning, the victim received a voice-recorded message on his mobile phone. It said his mobile phone will be blocked within two hours and for any queries he should dial '0' from his number. Accordingly, the victim pressed '0', following which a video call got activated," he said.
The caller introduced himself as a CBI officer and said he wanted to investigate the railway official in a money laundering case as his mobile number was linked to one bank account which was used in the scam, he said.
The victim told the caller that he does not have any connection with any case and he does not have a second mobile number, the official said.
"The caller then told him that a mobile number was registered in his name and that was linked to a bank account used for the Rs 5.8 million money laundering case and there are 247 accounts, which are linked with one Naresh Goyal," he added.
The victim went to his office for work. But the callers asked him to return home stating that CBI officers wanted to investigate him in the case. Accordingly, the victim went home, following which a video call was activated at 2 pm.
"During this time, the fraudsters obtained all the details about the railway official's family background, his finance and property details from him. The accused then told him that he would be produced before the court online and the judge will decide the matter," the police official said.
The video call remained active till 9.30 am on Tuesday, where the caller alerted the victim that he was being produced before the court. The victim was produced before a person posing as a judge, who told him that he found some unauthorised bank transactions from his account, and asked him to provide all the bank details, he added.
The fraudsters asked the victim to go to the bank and deposit Rs 9 lakh into the bank account provided by them. On their instructions, went to his bank and transferred the amount through RTGS, according to him.
But soon after depositing the money, the victim realised that he had been duped. He went to the bank manager with a request to stop the transaction, but it had been completed by them, he said.
He lodged a complaint at the Colaba police station, based on which a case of cyber fraud was registered, the official said, adding that a probe was underway.
