Renukaswamy, the 33-year-old auto driver who was allegedly kidnapped from Chitradurga and murdered at a shed by a group hired by Kannada actor Darshan, was administered an electric shock by his tormenters. The police have reportedly found the device used by the accused to give electric shocks to the private parts of the victim.
According to news reports, the arrested men had not mentioned having given an electric shock to Renukaswamy. The horrendous detail came out in the autopsy report. The revelation also sheds light on similar barbaric acts that the gang could have executed at the shed in the past as the police team believes Renukaswamy was not the first man to have been tortured in the manner at the shed where he died.
In the interrogation that followed after the postmortem was completed, the cops understood that Renukaswamy was restrained to a chair and administered an electric shock in his private area. The accused reportedly used a megger device -- an electrical test equipment which is used to measure insulation resistance -- to torture him. While the device has been found, the search is on to find the chair the victim was tied up to, news reports said.
One Raju alias Dhanaraj, a dog breeder from RR Nagar, was identified and arrested by the Vijaynagar sub-division police for torturing Swamy. Raju along with co-accused Nandesh were responsible for the unthinkable act of torture, the news report said citing a police probe.
Raju, who used to look after Darshan's dogs, was arrested from Bengaluru on Sunday, The New Indian Express said in a report. Vinay V, accused number 10 in the case, reportedly introduced Raju to Darshan. Vinay was an inhabitant of a farmhouse in Chikkamangaluru's Pattanagere that belonged to Jayanna -- the owner of the shed where the crime took place.
However, it has come to light that Raju purchased the megger device online a while ago. The cops suspect that the gang had hurt other people in a similar manner previously as well, TNIE said. Loan defaulters were likely to have been brought to the shed and administered an electric shock by the gang as an intimidation technique, they suspect.
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Meanwhile, Darshan Thoogudeepa has confessed to having given Rs 30 lakh to another accused Pradosh for the disposal of the body and to ensure that "his name does not come out anywhere," police have claimed.
The amount has been recovered from Pradosh's residence, police sources said.
"Darshan, who is accused number 2 (A2) in the case, has in his voluntary statement to police said that he had given Rs 30 lakh to Pradosh (A14) to dispose of the body, and for the expenditure that would cost...for persons to carry out this task, and to ensure that his name doesn't come out anywhere," a police official said.
