The sexual assault videos case has taken an even more serious turn, with the family of one of the victims coming forward to register an FIR against former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna on charges of repeated rape, threat and blackmail.
This is the second FIR in the case as on Friday the Karnataka Police registered a complaint against Deve Gowda's son, JD(S) MLA HD Revanna in connection with the kidnapping of one of the victims in the sex video scandal involving his son Prajwal Revanna.
The son of one of the victims has filed a police complaint over the abduction of his mother and named HD Revanna as the prime accused in the case.
In the second FIR, the other victim, who is a local leader and also married, has recounted her horrific experience.
In the complaint that she lodged with the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the victim stated that she did not dare to lodge a complaint as Prajwal Revanna threatened her with making her rape video viral.
Now, as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing the scandal, the victim has come forward after gathering courage, the FIR stated.
With this development, the arrest of Prajwal Revanna has become imminent.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has declared that the NDA’s candidate for the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency would be arrested from wherever he is hiding.
According to sources, at present, the suspended JD(S) leader is hiding abroad and is frequently changing locations.
The victim has recounted the horror in her complaint.
“I approached MLA and MP for public work and to get them to make calls for the officers. In 2021, I had met JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna in connection with getting seats in hostels for college students. On the first day, he maintained that he was going out in an emergency and asked me to meet him the next day.
“I went to the MP’s office in Hassan the next day that is located in MP Quarters. The ground floor was full of people. The staff directed me to another floor telling me that women were there.
“Prajwal Revanna came from the ground floor, spoke to other women and sent them away. I was all alone and he called me into his room. When I went inside he held my hand and closed the door.
“I asked him why he was closing the door and he maintained that nothing would happen and made me sit on the bed. Then he warned that my husband is assertive and he should be talking less. If not he would not spare him. He added that because of my husband his mother lost her MLA ticket.
“Later, he asked me to remove my clothes and told me that if I obliged he would help my husband’s political career grow. I refused to strip and he insisted. When I warned him that I would scream, he maintained that he had a gun and threatened he would finish me off and also my husband.
“He started raping me and even as I tried to get out of his clutches, he held my hands tightly. He threatened me not to scream. I got scared and remained quiet, as he raped me.
“Before the act he took out his mobile and started recording. He raped me and recorded the complete act. Later, he threatened that if I told anyone, my video would come out and he was not visible in it.
“He warned that he would keep the video with him and whenever he wanted, I should be entertaining him. If not, he would make the video public and finish off my husband.
“He continued to threaten me in the same fashion and made video calls, asked me to go nude and strip in front of the camera. Likewise, he tortured me mentally and committed sexual assaults on me many times.
“Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna has misused his power, threatened my life, and committed repeated sexual assaults on me. He had recorded the acts of sexual assault and used them to commit more sexual crimes on me by threatening that he would make them viral.”
The SIT has booked cases under IPC Sections 376 (2) N (committing rape repeatedly on same woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 354 (A) (1) (behaving in unwelcome way, explicit sexual behaviour, demanding sexual favours), 354 (B) (using criminal force on woman) and 354 (C) (voyeurism, capturing image of a woman in a private act without her consent) and Under Sections of the Information Technology Act.