• SC Bench sets Trial Court one year deadline to examine 60 important witnesses
• Kannada actor Darshan to stay inside jail till May 15 next year

New Delhi: Actor Darshan, accused No. 2 in the Renukaswamy Murder Case, who was expecting relief from the Supreme Court, was in for shock as the Apex Court rejected his bail plea and instead set the prosecution a deadline of one year to complete the examination of 60 important witnesses in the case.

The Supreme Court (SC) Bench comprising Justice J.B. Pardiwala and Justice Vijay Bishnoi heard the petition filed by Darshan seeking basic amenities mentioned in jail manual.

Appearing for Darshan, Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi submitted before the Court that the prosecution, which intends to examine 272 witnesses, had only examined 10 witnesses ever since the cancellation of bail by the Supreme Court.

Later, Advocate Rohatgi also requested the SC Bench to grant bail to Darshan citing slow progress in the trial. He also submitted that his client (Darshan) is kept in the quarantine cell and was not allowed to interact with inmates.

Meanwhile, Justice Pardiwala on hearing Advocate Rohatgi’s submissions said that it was not the time to consider the bail application as not much time had passed.

However, the Bench passed an order that it will see that substantial progress is made in the trial and if no progress was found then it would consider the bail plea after one year.