Havan at home of Deve Gowda’s son amid sex abuse charges against him, son

PTI, May 2, 2024, 8:32 AM IST

Holenarasipura (Karnataka): Smoke billowed as ‘Havan’ (fire rituals) flames raged in the scorching summer at JD(S) MLA and former Karnataka Minister HD Revanna’s residence in Karnataka’s Holenarasipura on Wednesday.
Conspicuous was a piece of paper pasted on the wall of his house.

Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru before leaving for Holenarasipura, Mr Revanna said the SIT has pasted a notice on his house.

Noting that he has no clue about the content of the notice, he said he will cooperate with the authorities.

“I have the strength to face these conspiracies. I will face it (investigation). There is no need to bother. I did not do anything wrong. I am prepared for any investigation and will fight it in a legal manner,” Mr Revanna said.

Rejecting all the allegations, he said, “I will not speak about it now.” Meanwhile, the SIT has formed three teams to probe the case.

Mr Revanna, the Holenarasipura JD(S) MLA, is the son of former Prime Minister and JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and elder brother of former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy.

Prajwal is seeking a re-election from Hassan from the JD(S), which is an alliance partner of the BJP in Karnataka.

Just before the elections, a huge cache of explicit videos and photographs, allegedly belonging to him have gone viral in the social media, following which the Karnataka government constituted the SIT on the request of Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary.

A case has been registered against Mr Revanna and Prajwal at Holenarasipura on a complaint by a woman for allegedly sexually harassing her. She alleged that Prajwal made video calls to her daughter and spoke in an objectionable manner, which forced her to block him.

Since morning, priests were busy performing rituals at Mr Revanna’s residence in Hassan district to “ward off the adversity” that has struck their family.

Mr Revanna’s trust in Gods, Goddesses, rituals and astrology are well known.

Once the JD(S) MLA was seen holding lemons in his hand during a public event on the stage. When asked about it, he said lemon has the quality to ward off any type of spell cast on a person.

Sometime he also was seen walking barefoot as part of a vow to fulfill his wishes.

When he was the Public Works Minister in the coalition government of Congress-JD(S), which was led by his brother Kumaraswamy, he travelled 350 km to and from Holenarasipura after an astrologer had advised him not to stay in his own house in Bengaluru as it would bring him bad luck, a source close to Revanna said.

One cannot miss out a broad ‘Tilak’ on his forehead, a garland of Rudraksh Rosary around his neck and rings on his fingers studded with precious stones.