A Bengaluru court on Monday rejected the bail plea of Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and his friend Pavithra Gowda in connection with a murder case, reported Live Law.

The sessions court, however, granted bail to two others, Ravishankar and Deepak, who have been accused in the same matter.

Thoogudeepa, Gowda and several others are in prison for their alleged involvement in the murder of a 33-year-old man named Renukaswamy, who was a fan of the actor. Renukaswamy had allegedly been sending abusive messages and comments to Gowda.

On June 9, Renukaswamy’s body was recovered from a drain in the Summanahalli area of Bengaluru. Thoogudeepa was arrested on June 11 for the alleged murder.

In September, the Bengaluru police filed a 3,991-page chargesheet, with forensic reports, before the 24th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate.

A total of 17 persons have been booked for murder, abduction, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence, among other charges, in connection with Renukaswamy’s death. The chargesheet also lists 231 witnesses.

Renukaswamy had used a false identity on social media platform Instagram to send abusive messages and photographs to Gowda, the chargesheet said, claiming this to be the motive for his abduction and murder.

It added that Gowda told her assistant Pavan about the messages, who then told Thoogudeepa. The actor subsequently asked Raghavendra, the president of his fans’ association in Chitradurga, to bring Renukaswamy to Bengaluru.

Renukaswamy was allegedly abducted and taken to a parking shed at Pattanagere on June 8, according to the chargesheet. Thoogudeepa and Gowda, along with their associates, then tortured him to death, it claimed.

Renukaswamy’s DNA was discovered on the clothes of some of the accused persons, including Gowda, which is a key piece of evidence.

The chargesheet was filed days after a Bengaluru court on August 27 allowed the police to shift Thoogudeepa to the Ballari district prison from Parappana Agrahara Central Jail in Bengaluru after reports that he was being given preferential treatment in custody.

Nine central jail officials in Bengaluru were suspended after a photograph showing Thoogudeepa sitting on a prison lawn in the company of three other inmates was widely shared on social media.

The recording of a video call allegedly made by the actor from prison was also widely shared online, prompting the Prisons and Correctional Services Department to launch an investigation.

Three first information reports were filed in the matter, including one against Thoogudeepa.