Abduction allegations in ‘sexual abuse’ case: My arrest a political conspiracy, claims H D Revanna

PTI, May 5, 2024, 7:40 PM IST

H D Revanna

Bengaluru: Holenarasipura MLA H D Revanna on Sunday called his arrest over the allegations of abducting a woman, whom Revanna’s son is alleged to have sexually abused, an outcome of a political conspiracy.

The former minister, who is the son of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, is facing the charge of kidnapping and illegally confining a woman who is the mother of three children. The complaint was lodged by the woman’s son on Thursday.

Revanna claimed there is no evidence of his involvement in the case based on the complaint against him registered on May 2.

”There are no evidences pertaining to the May 2 complaint. It’s a big political conspiracy… A conspiracy was hatched against me,” Revanna told reporters at the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital, where he was taken for a medical checkup before being produced in court.

Revanna was brought to the court by the members of a Special Investigation Team. The SIT is investigating sexual abuse allegations involving his son and Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, after a huge cache of explicit videos allegedly involving Prajwal sexually abusing several women surfaced in the public domain and were widely shared.

In the complaint of abduction against H D Revanna to the K R Nagar police, the 20-year-old son of the victim alleged that Revanna’s close aide Sathish Babanna had taken his mother away on a motorcycle on April 29, stating that the MLA wanted to see her.

The complainant stated that Babanna told him that if his mother ”opened her mouth before the police”, she and her family members would be arrested.

Later, the 20-year-old complainant got to know from a friend and relative that his mother was among the women in the cache of videos that has gone public, and that it showed her being tied up and raped allegedly by Prajwal.

As he expressed fear that his mother was in danger, police arrested Sathish Babanna and secured the victim from a farmhouse.

Prajwal Revanna (33), who is the BJP-JD(S) Hassan Lok Sabha candidate, faces rape and molestation charges.

The Karnataka government formed a Special Investigation Team on the recommendation of the Karnataka State Commission for Women Nagalakshmi Chowdhary, and is investigating the matter.

There are three FIRs registered in connection the sexual abuse allegations, involving the father and son, in total.

In the first case in Holenarasipura, the cook and relative of the Revannas complained that H D Revanna and his son Prajwal had molested her.

In the second complaint at CID Bengaluru, a JD(S) leader accused Prajwal of raping her at gunpoint, videographing the rape and then blackmailing her.

The third complaint is against Revanna pertaining to the abduction and illegal detention of a woman.