Prajwal Revanna case: Bengaluru court to announce sentence at 2:45 pm today

The former Hassan MP is the main accused in a series of sexual assault cases that surfaced shortly after the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.

A special court in Bengaluru is set to pronounce the quantum of punishment for former MP and suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna at 2:45 pm today, following his conviction in a rape case.

On Friday, Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat of the Special Court for the trial of criminal cases against MPs and MLAs found the 34-year-old guilty in one of four sexual assault and rape cases filed against him.

During the sentencing hearing, the prosecution had pressed for life imprisonment.

The case pertains to a 48-year-old domestic worker who was allegedly raped by Revanna on two occasions in 2021, first at the family’s farmhouse in Holenarasipura, Hassan district, and later at a residence in Bengaluru.

The survivor also alleged that the accused recorded the assaults on his mobile phone.

The verdict, originally scheduled for July 30, was postponed after the court sought additional clarification on technical evidence, including mobile location data, Google Maps records, and forensic reports. The judge said the verdict could not be delivered without addressing these points.

The survivor had filed her complaint at the Holenarasipura Town Police Station on April 28 last year.

Revanna, the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, and son of former Karnataka minister H D Revanna, has been in judicial custody at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison for the past 14 months. He is the main accused in a series of sexual assault cases that surfaced shortly after the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka.

The scandal erupted after multiple obscene videos allegedly involving Revanna were leaked on social media. Pen drives containing such footage were also recovered in Hassan. Following the revelations, Revanna left India on April 27, 2024. He was arrested upon his return from Munich at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport on May 31.

The Karnataka government, responding to public outrage and mounting pressure, had formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) under the CID to probe the allegations. Proceedings in the remaining cases against Revanna are underway.