P. Prasanna Kumar was recently appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) in the Renukaswamy murder case, in which Sandalwood actor Darshan Thoogudeepa is among the accused.
In 2016, Kumar was appointed as the Special Public Prosecutor to represent the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in court. The same year, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) appointed him to a similar role. In 2018, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) also engaged him as a Special Public Prosecutor.
He is currently leading arguments for the CBI in a petition challenging the withdrawal of consent to investigate corruption allegations against Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar. The Karnataka High Court has reserved judgment in the matter.
Born on May 2, 1979, Prasanna Kumar completed his BA.LL.B from the University College of Law Bangalore and later earned a postgraduate diploma in alternative dispute resolution (ADR) from NALSAR University, Hyderabad. He enrolled as an advocate on August 25, 2001, and began his legal practice under Senior Advocate CH Jadhav, a former State Public Prosecutor and CBI standing counsel.
In a career spanning over two decades, Kumar has handled more than 484 cases. He regularly appears before trial courts in Karnataka and the Karnataka High Court. He has handled many high-profile cases, including those involving illegal mining, the stamp paper scam involving Karim Lal Telgi, demonetisation cases, the I-Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam, and the illegal sale of properties of the Mysore Maharaja.
Kumar has also represented the NIA in cases such as the DJ Halli-KG Halli riot case, the Mysore court bomb blast case, the Church Street bomb blast case, the murder of RSS worker Rudresh, and the murder of BJP worker Praveen Nettaru. Additionally, he has represented the ED in cases filed against Chinese technology company Xiaomi and US-based Devas Multimedia under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
He served as the SPP in cases involving BJP MLA Ramesh Jarakiholi (sex-for-job scam) and the police sub-inspector recruitment scam. He was also the SPP for the Central Crime Branch (CCB) in the 2020 Bitcoin scam case.
In his latest assignment, Kumar will represent the state in court proceedings against actor Darshan Thoogudeepa and others accused of being involved in the murder of Renukaswamy. It is alleged that Renukaswamy died from injuries sustained in an attack carried out on Darshan’s instructions after he made derogatory comments about the actor’s girlfriend, Pavithra Gowda (also an accused), on social media.
There are a total of seventeen accused in the case. On Thursday, a trial court extended the police custody of Darshan and three other accused until June 22. Eleven other accused were sent to judicial custody, and two others were earlier sent to judicial custody after their police custody period ended.
