The 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court remanded rape-accused former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna to 14 days of judicial custody on Monday, June 10, as his SIT custody ended on June 9. The SIT did not seek further custody of Mr. Prajwal, but intended to seek his custody in other cases pending against him .
Mr. Prajwal, who was in SIT custody since the last one week, was taken to his residence in Basavanagudi for spot inspection. The SIT had earlier conducted spot mahazar at his house in Hassan’s Holenarasipura on June 8.
Mr. Prajwal was arrested in the early hours of May 31 after he returned from Munich, Germany. He had fled the country soon after the Lok Sabha polls on April 26 in southern Karnataka.
Three cases registered
Three separate cases have been registered against former Hassan MP. The first case was filed on April 28 at the Holenarasipura Town police station in Hassan where Prajwal and his father, JD(S) MLA H.D. Revanna, were accused of sexual harassment by a 47-year-old former house help.
The second case was filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 1, after a 44-year-old former member of the Hassan zilla panchayat accused Mr. Prajwal of repeated rape.
The third case, filed at the K.R. Nagar police station in Mysuru district, pertains to rape allegations by a woman in her 60s.
The police had questioned him about the recording and storage of videos and about the phone, which had all the recordings, and was reportedly destroyed by the accused. Mr. Prajwal has allegedly refused all the allegations and claimed he was not seen in the videos. The police are trying to analyse the crime scene through spot investigation.
SIT investigation
While in their custody, the SIT conducted a detailed investigation, including gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses, and questioned Revanna extensively about the allegations.
The court, taking into consideration the gravity of the allegations and the evidence presented by the SIT, decided to remand him to judicial custody for 14 days, till June 24.
The 33-year-old grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former PM H.D. Deve Gowda had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan parliamentary constituency in the recent polls.
He had left for Germany on April 27, a day after Hassan went to the polls. A 'Blue Corner Notice' seeking information on his whereabouts had earlier been issued by the Interpol, following a request by the SIT via the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A Special Court for Elected Representatives issued an arrest warrant against Revanna on May 18, following an application moved by the SIT.
The cases of sexual abuse came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls there on April 26. JD(S) suspended him from the party following the cases filed against him.
