In the morning of 16th April a man was frantically walking towards the Durga Farm House in Bagganadoddy area near Bengaluru. His friend Sridhar, who was not answering his phone calls, works here as a caretaker of the property.

As he came to see whether all was well, it wasn't. Sridhar was lying dead in pool of blood. He has bled to death. Besides him lies a suicide note where he allegedly claimed that he was committing suicide as he could no more tolerate the loneliness in his life and nobody is responsible for his death.

The suicide note was not only signed but also carried a thumb impression. Sridhar also recorded a video message confirming the same.

The police investigated the case and ruled out any kind of foul play and promptly prepared an Unnatural Death Report (UDR) at Anekal Police Station.

The case at that time turned into a mere excuse to discuss mental health in the media. The investigative journalists, if not the police- failed to or chose to ignore red flags of the case indicating severe foul play:

1. When one finds both signature and thumb impression on a suicide note, it means somebody was hell bent to prove a murder case a suicide.
2. Most of people committing suicide prefer bloodless options like self-hanging or self-poisoning. Slicing wrist or stabbing abdomen is not a natural choice.
3. Recording a video could also be the result of coercion by elements wanting to turn a murder case into suicide. The video could have been made only to cement the narrative.
4. The police and investigative media chose to ignore the pattern of 'managerial deaths' of Darshan Thoogudeepa's staff. In 2018, Darshan's another manager Mallikarjun Shankanagoudar also went missing.
5. Conflicting media reports shows different mode of committing suicide, from self-poisoning to self-stabbing. 

Now in June 2024 when Darshan's properties are turning out to be crime scenes, it is pertinent to investigate what more wrong were going on in their properties and whether such managers knew more than they should have known?

After the Renukaswamy murder case, both the strange death and disappearance cases of his managers have got to limelight again. People are expecting to get clear answers by now.