The wife of slain Darshan fan Renukaswamy gave birth to a baby boy on Wednesday at a private hospital in Karnataka. The Kannada actor, his friend Pavithra Gowda and 15 others currently remain jailed amid investigation into the murder. Sahana had ben five months pregnant when her husband was killed.
“Felt happy as though my son had come back…My son has come back in the form of a baby. She gave birth to the baby at 6:55 pm,” his father Kashinath Shivanagoudar emotionally told reporters.
He also thanked the hospital and doctors — who provided free treatment — for taking care of his daughter-in-law and informed that both mother and baby were doing well.
The development came mere days after a civil court in Bengaluru rejected bail pleas filed by the actor and his associate Pavithra Gowda in the murder case. The duo remain lodged in jail while some of the other accused were recently granted a reprieve.
According to police, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra. This had enraged Darshan and prompted the group to hatch the murder plot.
Police have said Pavithra — dubbed accused number one — was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy's murder. Officials said she had been proven to have instigated the other accused and conspired with them. She also took part in the crime.
According to the investigators, he was brought to a shed in the RR Nagar area of Bengaluru in early June by Raghavendra — one of the accused and a member of Darshan's fan club — on the pretext of meeting the actor. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, the Chitradurga native died due to shock and hemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli in Bengaluru here on June 9.
(With inputs from agencies)
