Prajwal Revanna, a Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Hassan district of Karnataka and grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda has fled India a day after the state of Karnataka decided to appoint a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations of rape, sexual exploitation and the 2976 obscene videos that have now surfaced.
The videos surfaced on social media barely two days before the first round of Karnataka’s Lok Sabha elections on 26th April. According to reports, Prajwal Revanna is said to have fled to Frankfurt on the 28th morning of April from Bengaluru.
On Sunday (28th April), Revanna was charged with sexual harassment based on complaints filed by his former housekeeper. The woman stated that she was sexually abused multiple times by Revanna and his father between 2019 and 2022. His father, JD(S) leader HD Revanna has also been booked in this connection. The case has been filed under sections 354A, 354D, 506, and 509 of the IPC on charges of sexual harassment, intimidation, and demeaning of a woman’s dignity.
Amid this, the Congress staged a protest in the Bengaluru city of Karnataka and demanded strict action against the JD(S) leader. The congress supporters also burned the effigy of Revanna, videos of which have been shared on social media.
According to the complaint, the woman alleged that both HD Revanna and Prajwal Revanna sexually assaulted her. The complainant further stated that while Revanna’s wife was not home, he touched her improperly and sexually assaulted her.
“Whenever (HD) Revanna’s wife wasn’t there, he used to call the women to the storeroom and touch them while giving them fruits. He used to remove saree pins and sexually assault women,” the complainant was quoted as saying.
The complainant further alleged that Prajwal Revanna was impolite to her and misbehaved with her daughter over a video call. “My daughter blocked his number after repeated calls,” the complainant stated.
“In the fourth month of my employment, Revanna began summoning me to his quarters. In a household with six female staff members, apprehension gripped us whenever Prajwal Revanna returned home. Even male colleagues cautioned us to exercise caution,” the woman said.
She also stated in the complaint that she was “worried” and decided to complain following the alleged obscene video incident. HD Revanna is the son of HD Deve Gowda, the former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo.
Prajwal Revanna is embroiled in a controversy after some offensive videos supposedly featuring him went viral on social media.
Notably, one of the BJP leaders in Karnataka had said that he had written to the party president in December 2023 saying that he had received a pen drive containing 2976 sexual videos involving Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna and other leaders. He claimed that Revanna used the footage to blackmail the women to continue engaging in such activities.
In his letter to the BJP’s state president BY Vijayendra dated December 8, 2023, Devaraje Gowda, who was the party’s Holenarsipura candidate in the 2023 Assembly elections, stated that “there are grave allegations against several leaders of the HD Deve Gowda family, including Prajwal Revanna, the NDA candidate of the JD(S), the party with which we are in alliance.”
Gowda further stated that the pen drive contained around 3000 videos and some of the women featured in the footage could be identified as government officials. “The videos were then being used to blackmail them into continuing to engage in sexual activities,” the letter read.
“If we align with the JD(S) and if we nominate a JD(S) candidate in Hassan for the Lok Sabha elections, these videos can be used as a ‘Brahmastra’ (destructive weapon), and we will be tainted as a party that aligned with the family of a rapist. This will be a big blow to the image of our party nationally,” Gowda had warned.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Saturday (27th April) that the state has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the obscene video, rape and sexual exploitation case against MP Revanna. The SIT, led by IPS officer Vijay Kumar Singh and including DG CID Suman D Pennekar and IPS officer Seema Latkar, has begun its probe into the case.
The decision to launch the investigation was made in response to a request by the Women’s Commission, according to the Congress government. “The chairperson of the Women’s Commission had written to the government, requesting a SIT investigation, and this decision has been made in response to their request,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Janata Dal (Secular) and the BJP have distanced themselves from the obscene video row and have welcomed the investigations. If there is any wrongdoing, there should be action. We welcome the investigation by the government. We are open to any kind of investigation,” JD(S) core committee chairman GT Devegowda said.
Former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the JD(S) who is the uncle of Revanna also has welcomed the probe. “There is no question of forgiving any mistake. Whoever has done the crime will get the punishment,” he indicated.
“Whether it is me or HD Deve Gowda, we always respect women and whenever they come with complaints, we have tried to resolve their problems. The CM has already ordered an SIT investigation and the SIT investigation has started… The SIT team will bring him back from abroad. That’s not my concern,” Kumaraswamy added.
In the meantime, Poornachandra Tejaswi MG, the electoral agent for both the JD(S) and the BJP, filed a complaint stating that one individual identified as Naveen Gowda and several others circulated alleged videos defaming Revanna ahead of the elections. “Naveen Gowda and others morphed videos and images and circulated them to the voters in the Hassan Lok Sabha segment through pen drives, CDs, and WhatsApp to put Prajwal Revanna in a bad light. They are asking the people not to vote for him,” the FIR stated.
However, it is unclear who Naveen Gowda is and why he allegedly did what he did. It is believed that Tejaswi has lodged complaint against Gowda based on the instructions by Revanna who has now left the country for Frankfurt.
Prajwal, 33, campaigned for election in his constituency of Hassan and won for the first time in 2019. General elections are being held in India from 19th April to 1st June 2024 in seven phases, to elect 543 members of the Lok Sabha. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on 4th June 2024.