BENGALURU, 19 JUNE

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said he was not under pressure from any minister or MLA to shield leading Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa in a murder case.

Siddaramaiah also said that he would never entertain such requests. “There is a rumour doing rounds that there was pressure on me, which is not true. There is no pressure. Neither from a minister nor any MLA (to favour Darshan). These are all far from the truth,” Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

He said, “Even if someone puts pressure on me, I will not entertain their requests. We have given free hand to the police and I have told them to take action as per law.” On changing the Special Public Prosecutor appointed by the government for the trial in the case, the Chief Minister said he has no such information. "There is no proposal in the first place (to change the SPP).”

Govt will give consent if case needs to reopened: HM

Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshwara on Wednesday said the State would give its consent if the police feels the need to reopen the case of death by suicide of a man who was working at leading Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa’s farmhouse at Anekal in Bengaluru.

Darshan was arrested on 11 June for the murder of his fan Renukaswamy who allegedly trolled the actor's friend Pavithra Gowda in obscene language. In all, 17 arrests have been made in the case. According to the police, Sridhar S died by suicide in April this year, and in a note and also in a video he said that he is responsible for his own death and that no one should be held accountable for it. However, police are probing if there is any connection between the death of Sridhar and the Renukaswamy murder case.

Sridhar, who worked at a farmhouse of Durga Construction, which allegedly belongs to Darshan, also said he had decided to take the extreme step because of loneliness in life, police said, adding that the deceased person was unmarried. PTI