Prajwal Revanna, a Janata Dal (Secular) MP from Karnataka’s Hassan district, and the grandson of former prime minister and JD (S) supremo HD Deve Gowda have left the country just one day after the state of Karnataka decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the 2976 pornographic videos that have now surfaced and the allegations of rape.
The recordings went viral on social media just two days before the first round of the Karnataka Lok Sabha elections on April 26. Prajwal Revanna allegedly ran away from Bengaluru on April 28 in the early morning hours and escaped to Frankfurt.
Based on allegations made by his former housekeeper, Revanna was charged with sexual harassment on Sunday, April 28. The woman claimed that between 2019 and 2022, Revanna and his father had sexually assaulted her several times. His father, JD (S) leader HD Revanna, has also been booked in this regard. The IPC’s sections 354A, 354D, 506, and 509 have been invoked in the case to prosecute allegations of sexual harassment, intimidation, and degrading of a woman’s dignity.
Amid this, the Congress called for harsh action against the JD (S) leader during a protest in the Karnataka capital of Bengaluru. Videos of the Congress supporters burning Revanna’s effigy have gone viral on social media.
In the lawsuit, the victim claimed that HD Revanna and Prajwal Revanna had sexually abused her. The complainant went on to say that Revanna inappropriately groped and sexually harassed his wife when she wasn’t at home.
“HD Revanna used to call the women to the storeroom and touch them while giving them fruits whenever his wife wasn’t around. He used to take off saree pins and harass ladies sexually, according to the complainant.
Additionally, the complainant said that Prajwal Revanna misbehaved with her daughter during a video call and treated her rudely. The complainant claimed, “My daughter blocked his number after making repeated calls.”
“During the fourth month of my job, Revanna called me to his office. There were six female employees in our home, so we felt anxious every time Prajwal Revanna came home. The woman mentioned that even her male coworkers advised us to proceed cautiously.
She added in the complaint that she chose to file a complaint because she was “worried” about the allegedly offensive video incident. HD Deve Gowda, the former prime minister and leader of the JD (S), is the father of HD Revanna.
A storm has engulfed Prajwal Revanna after several obscene films purporting to be of him became popular on social media.
Remarkably, a Karnataka-based BJP leader claimed to have written to the party president in December 2023, claiming to have received a pen drive containing 2976 pornographic movies featuring MP Prajwal Revanna of the Janata Dal (Secular) and other figures. According to him, Revanna used the video to threaten the women with harm if they didn’t stop doing these kinds of things.
Devaraje Gowda, the party’s candidate for Holenarsipura in the 2023 Assembly elections, wrote to BY Vijayendra, the state president of the BJP, on December 8, 2023, informing him 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 said the pen drive held about 3000 movies, some showing ladies who appeared to be government employees. The letter said, “They were then being blackmailed into continuing to engage in sexual activities using the videos.”
The tapes can be used as a “Brahmastra,” or destructive weapon, and we will be associated with the family of a rapist if we support the JD(S) and nominate a JD(S) candidate in Hassan for the Lok Sabha elections. Gowda had issued a warning, saying, “This will be a big blow to our party’s image nationally.”
On Saturday, April 27, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that the state had established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the allegations of rape, sexual exploitation, and lewd videos against MP Revanna. The SIT has started looking into the matter. IPS officers Seema Latkar and DG CID Suman D. Pennekar are present, and IPS officer Vijay Kumar Singh serves as the chair.
The Congress government stated that the decision to begin the probe was made in response to a request from the Women’s Commission. In a statement, Siddaramaiah said, “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.”
In the meantime, the BJP and the Janata Dal (Secular) have welcomed the inquiries and disassociated themselves from the offensive video controversy. If anything is wrong, it needs to be addressed. We applaud the government’s probe. GT Devegowda, the head of the JD(S) core committee, stated, “We are open to any kind of investigation.”
Revanna’s uncle, former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy of the JD (S), praised the investigation. “There is no way to overlook any error. “The punishment will be meted out to the criminal,” he said.
Whether it’s HD Deve Gowda or myself, we always respect women and have tried to address their concerns when they bring them up. The CM has already ordered an SIT probe, which is currently underway. He will return from his overseas trip with the SIT team. I don’t care about that,” Kumaraswamy continued.
Meanwhile, the JD(S) and BJP’s electoral agent, Poornachandra Tejaswi MG, filed a complaint alleging that a person going by the name Naveen Gowda and a few others had distributed purported videos that were slanderous of Revanna in the run-up to the polls. To disparage Prajwal Revanna, Naveen Gowda and associates altered movies and pictures and distributed them via pen drives, CDs, and WhatsApp to voters in the Hassan Lok Sabha segment. According to the FIR, “They are requesting that people not vote for him.”
But it’s not obvious what Naveen Gowda is up to or why he would have done what he did. Tejaswi is thought to have filed a complaint against Gowda in response to directives from Revanna, who has since departed the nation for Frankfurt.
In 2019, the 33-year-old Prajwal ran for office in his Hassan constituency and made history by winning. To choose 543 members of the Lok Sabha, general elections will be held in India in seven parts between April 19, 2024, and June 1, 2024. The votes will be tallied on June 4, 2024, and the results will be announced.
