The Karnataka High Court has granted conditional interim anticipatory bail to rape accused Prajwal Revanna’s mother, Bhavani Revanna. The pre-arrest bail was granted to her on Friday, June 7, in connection with the kidnapping case linked to the rape case against Prajwal Revanna. The court has also ordered Bhavani to appear before the investigating officer of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at 1 pm on June 7 and fully cooperate with the probe.
The anticipatory bail is subject to conditions of her cooperating with the probe and prohibition from entering Hassan district or KR Nagar taluk in Mysuru district. The court has also ordered the SIT against holding Bhavani in office after 5 pm. Seeking Bhavani’s restriction from entering Hassan and KR Nagar, Special Public Prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar said, “She is the mastermind. I will demonstrate. Let her not enter Hassan and Mysuru.”
The arrest warrant against Bhavani Revanna issued earlier on June 7 by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court was also stayed. The SIT had issued a notice to Bhavani to appear for questioning in relation to the kidnapping of a woman, who has filed a case of rape against Prajwal Revanna. Bhavani has not been seen in public in the last fortnight and has not appeared before the SIT for questioning.
Read: Prajwal Revanna says toilets in jail stinky, wants media restricted
Meanwhile, the High Court adjourned the matter related to Prajwal Revanna’s father and JD(S) MLA HD Revanna after Revanna’s counsel sought two weeks to respond. The court had ordered the merging of two applications, one from the SIT seeking the cancellation of bail granted to HD Revanna by a lower court and the other filed by Revanna seeking the quashing of the FIR registered against him in the kidnapping case. The woman, who was allegedly kidnapped by Revanna’s aide, has accused Prajwal Revanna of raping her. Prajwal’s mother, Bhavani Revanna was granted anticipatory bail on Friday, June 7.
HD Revanna is accused under IPC sections 364(A), 365, and 34 of the IPC. Section 364(A) involves kidnapping for ransom with the intent to murder, while section 365 pertains to kidnapping with the intent to secretly and wrongfully confine. Section 34 addresses acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention.
On June 6, a special court extended police custody of rape accused Prajwal Revanna to June 10. Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, also lost the Hassan Lok Sabha seat to Shreyas Patel of the Congress on June 4 with a margin of 42,649 votes. His loss was celebrated with a small feast in the safe house where the survivors are staying for the time being.