A JD(S) leader has accused Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, of rape, voyeurism and violation of privacy. The complainant has alleged that during the first assault, Prajwal told her to control her husband because of whom his mother Bhavani Revanna had lost the MLA ticket.
In the FIR registered on May 1 by the CID, the complainant, a former public official, alleged that Prajwal Revanna raped and sexually harassed her for over three years between January 1, 2021 and April 25, 2024. He also recorded videos of the assaults and threatened to leak them on social media, the woman says.
The first instance of abuse was when she went to meet him at the MP quarters in Hassan to obtain seats for girls at a government hostel. He was talking in the hall and asked her to wait upstairs where other women were waiting to speak to him. When he came up, he spoke to the other women first and sent them away.
“I was then left alone and he took me to his room. He said that my husband was too outspoken and that his mother (Bhavani Revanna) had missed the MLA seat due to my husband’s interference. He then threatened to finish me and my husband,” she says in the complaint.
She alleges that he threatened her with a gun, forced her to strip and recorded it. He told her he would keep the video, and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about it. The abuse escalated after that and he allegedly raped her many times, the FIR says.
Prajwal Revanna has been booked under sections 376 (2n) (raping a woman multiple times), 354(a)(1) ( unwelcome sexual overtures), 354(b) (disrobing a woman) and 354(c) (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code and section 66(e) (violation of privacy) of Information Technology Act. This is the second FIR registered against Prajwal Revanna.
A total of three FIRs have been filed after the alleged abuse came to light on April 27. In an FIR filed on April 28, both Prajwal and his father HD Revanna have been booked for sexual harassment. On May 2, Revanna was booked for kidnapping a Mysuru woman. Two of the complainant women are Vokkaligas, and one of them is related to Bhavani Revanna.
The Special Investigation Team is probing the allegations of sexual abuse against Prajwal Revanna. Prajwal failed to appear before the SIT following a notice served on Tuesday, which prompted the SIT to issue a lookout circular. The SIT also served notice to his father, HD Revanna, who is an accused in a case filed by a 47-year-old woman. The same day Revanna has since sought anticipatory bail from a Bengaluru court.
TNM recently travelled to Prajwal’s hometown Holenarasipura and found that the residents feared speaking out about the case. We also looked at the power and influence Prajwal’s family holds in Hassan constituency.