NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over the Karnataka High Court’s order granting bail to Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, an accused in the Renukaswamy murder case.“This court is not at all convinced by the manner in which the high court (Karnataka), in its discretion, granted bail (to Darshan),” said a two-judge bench of Justice J B Pardiwala and Justice R Mahadevan.Challenging the order of the Karnataka HC, the state filed an appeal in the top court seeking cancellation of the actor’s bail.Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the actor, faced a tough time in the court, as the SC asked him to give “good reasons” why it should not interfere with the HC’s bail order.“To be very honest with you, we are not convinced with the manner in which the HC has exercised discretion. We will hear you because your clients are on bail; they (state) have come for cancellation of bail and you must have seen the manner in which the high court had dictated the order,” Justice Pardiwala asked Sibal.Sibal responded that keeping aside the high court’s decision, the court can look into the Section 161 and 164 statements and two to three key witnesses, including the police. The veteran lawyer wanted to know from the judges as to which part of the HC’s order the bench found problematic. Justice Pardiwala replied, “That part of the order where the high court was really saying how to release them on bail.”The court asked Sibal to come prepared next Tuesday.According to the prosecution, Darshan, a 47-year-old Kannada actor, was arrested on June 11, 2024, in connection with the murder of 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga. The victim’s body was discovered near a stormwater drain in Bengaluru on June 9, 2024.After the investigation, the Bengaluru police filed a charge sheet and arrayed Pavithra as accused number 1 and Darshan as the accused number 2. Police claimed that Renukaswamy’s act of sending offensive messages to Pavithra was the motive of the offence committed by Darshan and others.Initially, a Sessions Court had rejected the bail of Darshan forcing him to knock the doors of the top court.
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