Overview
- Kamakshipalya police arrested Puneeth (also spelled Punith), Suhas and Venu after a prosecution witness told the court he had been pressured and threatened not to testify.
- Police say Puneeth is a cited prosecution witness who owns the SUV alleged to have been used to move the victim’s body and that he runs a Darshan fan page called “D Company.”
- The trio are accused of contacting the witness by WhatsApp and phone calls to coach him to deny knowing the accused and to claim police dictated his statement.
- The men were medically examined, produced in a Bengaluru court on Thursday and remanded to five days’ police custody as investigators seek to question them further.
- Officers have found deleted chat histories on seized phones and plan forensic analysis as they probe whether others in Darshan’s fan networks or beyond were involved and the court orders ongoing witness protection.