Amid the circulation of “obscene videos” purportedly featuring former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson and Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna, the Karnataka government set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations.
“The government has decided to form an SIT in connection with the case of Prajwal Revanna’s explicit videos,” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in a statement. “Explicit video clips are being circulated in Hassan and it appears prime facie that women were sexually assaulted.”
Who is Prajwal Revanna?
Revanna, 33, is also the nephew of former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy. Prajwal was the BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan, which went to polls on April 26. According to reports, he graduated as a mechanical engineer from Bangalore Institute of Technology in 2014. In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, Prajwal defeated BJP’s A Manju with a margin of over 1.4 lakh votes in Hassan. Prajwal was the lone JD(S) MP in Karnataka who was renominated from Hassan Lok Sabha seat. He declared assets worth Rs 40.85 crore, according to his election affidavit. Prajwal is the son of Deve Gowada’s elder son H D Revanna.
What are the allegations against Prajwal?
Several “explicit video clips” allegedly featuring Prajwal were being circulated in Haasan over the last few days, according to a PTI report. According to Economic Times, many pen drives containing these clips were being widely distributed in Hassan days before the polling, the police had not acted for want of a complaint from victims. However, an election agent reportedly filed a complaint on the MP's behalf alleging that morphed videos were being circulated to malign his image.
Meanwhile, a woman who worked as a house help at Prajwal Revanna's residence accused him and his father of “sexually assaulting and harassing female workers”. She said HD Revanna would “summon women to the storeroom, touch them inappropriately, and sexually assault them by removing their saree pins”.
"After four months of joining, Revanna kept calling me to his room. There were six women workers in the house, and everyone said that they were scared when Prajwal Revanna came home. The male workers in the house also alerted the women workers to be careful," the complainant was quoted as saying by Business Standard.
Who said what
Prajwal Revanna said viral videos were doctored and has filed a complaint in this regard. However, reports say he has left the country. "It is not related to me. SIT probe has been ordered, officials have been put to work. If he has gone to a foreign country, getting him back is their responsibility. What should I say, if I'm asked. They (SIT) will get him, don't worry," said Kumaraswamy.
Meanwhile, former Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai suspected the case to be "pre-planned".
S Prakash, the chief spokesperson of BJP's state unit, told Hindustan Times, "We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make on the SIT probe announced by the state government into the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna."
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