A fifth woman has come forward to file a complaint of sexual harassment against former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who has already been accused of raping four women.
According to the police, the complainant is a woman in her mid-30s and also accused Prajwal of forcing her to strip. Former BJP Hassan MLA Preetham Gowda and others have been booked under sections of the IT Act relating to the distribution of obscene material. The SIT will soon issue a summons to Preetham Gowda, police said.
Prajwal Revanna, who is former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson, has been accused of sexually abusing many women after videos of sexual assaults allegedly committed by him surfaced a week before elections to the Hassan Lok Sabha seat on April 26. The state government later formed a Special Investigation Team to investigate all the cases.
Last month, the SIT arrested two people, Chethan and Likhith Gowda, for their alleged involvement in the distribution of videos. Chethan was working in Preetham Gowda’s office, and Likhith was said to be Preetham’s aide. The arrests in the case emerged from a complaint filed by Poornachandra Tejwasi, a JD(S) worker, who had filed a case with the Hassan police, accusing five people of circulating the videos.
So far, four women have accused Prajwal Revanna of rape. One is a woman who used to work in Prajwal’s house in Holenarasipura town. She is a relative of Bhavani Revanna, Prajwal’s mother. His father and Holenarasipura MLA, HD Revanna, has been accused of sexually harassing her. The SIT later registered an FIR against Prajwal for sexually assaulting the woman’s daughter.
A former public official and JD(S) party worker filed a complaint with the police alleging that Prajwal had raped her at gunpoint at the MP quarters in Hassan town. He had allegedly threatened to destroy her husband’s political career too.
A man from Mysuru lodged a complaint with the Mysuru police, alleging that his mother was kidnapped, allegedly at the behest of HD Revanna. She too, was allegedly raped by Prajwal. Police have questioned both Revanna and Bhavani in connection with the kidnapping. While Revanna is out on bail, Bhavani was granted pre-arrest bail. Prajwal continues to be in judicial custody.