Close to 3,000 video clips, photos and documents of alleged sexual assault and abuse against women. The grandson of a former PM and nephew of a former CM. And a regional party striving to remain relevant in state politics.
Over the past week, a massive sex scandal has rocked Karnataka, overshadowing the political discourse in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections. In the thick of it all is Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former PM HD Deve Gowda, and sitting MP from Hassan. On April 27, the Karnataka government, at the behest of the State Commission for Women, constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe into the alleged video clips of sexual abuse and exploitation involving the Hassan MP.
With pressure building on an embarrassed JD(S), the party suspended Mr. Prajwal on April 30. On May 1, the Hassan MP — who had fled to Germany on April 27 morning — was served a notice by the SIT to appear for questioning within 24 hours. He is said to have sought seven days’ time to do so, through his lawyers.
But trouble seems to be mounting for the Revanna father-son duo, with newer and uglier details emerging everyday. On May 3, Prajwal’s father and JD(S) leader H. D. Revanna was booked for kidnapping one of the alleged victims sexually assaulted by his son. The alleged victim had worked as a maid in the Revanna household for six years. A video of her being ‘raped’ by Prajwal is in circulation, police sources said.
On the same day, a 44-year-old political worker accused the Hassan MP of raping her in his official quarters in Hassan city in 2021. The complainant told the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) that Prajwal recorded the sexual act on his phone and was blackmailing her with the footage, forcing her to have sex with him multiple times between January 1, 2021, and April 25, 2024.
