VIP treatment to Darshan: Bengaluru court orders actor to be shifted to Ballari jail

The development has come against the backdrop of Darshan enjoying 'special privileges' at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison after a photograph of him smoking and relaxing with known gangsters went viral on Sunday.

A Bengaluru court on Tuesday ordered actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is at the centre of a storm for receiving special treatment in Bengaluru's Parappana Agrahara prison, to be moved to Ballari Central Prison.

Amid mounting speculations that Darshan would be shifted, prison authorities moved the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) and the decision came on Tuesday evening. Arrangements have been made at the Ballari prison anticipating Darshan's transfer.

"The inmate [Darshan] will be kept in the cell, which will house only one person at a time," R Latha, Superintendent of Prison, Ballari told DH. "There will be other cells holding other inmates also. We are expecting the inmate transfer to happen on Wednesday."

Apart from Darshan, some of the other jailed suspects in Renukaswamy’s murder would also be moved to prisons in different districts.

Pawan K, Raghavendra and Nandish would be moved to Mysuru jail, Jagadish to Shivamogga jail, Dhanraj D to Dharwad jail, Vinay V to Vijayapura jail, Nagaraju to Kalaburagi jail, Laxman to Shivamogga jail and Pradosh to Belagavi jail.

"Suspects would be moved out of the Bengaluru jail once prison authorities receive the court order and other transfer procedures are complete," an official in the know told DH.

Darshan’s close friend Pavithra Gowda and two other suspects Anukumar and Deepak will remain at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. Investigations had revealed that Renukaswamy’s purported lewd messages to Pavithra were the motive behind the murder.

Four other suspects in the case, Karthik, Nikhil Nayak, Keshavamurthy and Ravishankar, were moved to the district jail in Tumakuru earlier in June.

Inmate who took pic assaulted Vela an inmate who took the viral Darshan photograph and leaked it was reportedly assaulted by Naga and others in the prison. Officials however refused to comment and no complaint was registered. Meanwhile police have begun a probe into two cases registered against Darshan.