Bengaluru: After evading arrest for over a month, JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna was finally arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the early hours of Friday in connection with the Hassan sex abuse case.
Prajwal flew business class on a Lufthansa flight (LH746) from Munich, which departed at 3.58 pm IST on Thursday and landed at Kempegowda International Airport's Terminal 2 at 12.53 am on Friday.
Immigration authorities detained him upon arrival and handed him over to the SIT.
Dressed in a grey jacket hoodie, off-white track pants and white sneakers, Prajwal was escorted out of the airport by police officials around 1.10 am. Another police team confiscated two of his check-in bags and took them away in a separate car.
First glimpse of #PrajwalRevanna as he is escorted out of #Bengaluru Airport by the SIT. pic.twitter.com/l6M3p9koZg
— Prajwal D'Souza (@prajwaldza) May 30, 2024
Police set up decoys at separate entrances and barricaded the main one. Curious onlookers gathered as the MP walked out of the airport.
Bengaluru city police made elaborate security arrangements at the airport. A nine-member SIT team was supported by a group of police officers led by DCP (Northeast) and three KSRP platoons were deployed at the airport.
Prajwal has been taken to the SIT office in Bengaluru where he will be put through preliminary questioning.
Well-placed sources told DH that Prajwal would remain in SIT custody until Friday morning, undergo a medical examination and then be produced before a magistrate. The SIT plans to seek the court's permission to interrogate him over several days about the leaked videos, the individuals involved and the motives behind the sexual assaults.
Prajwal faces allegations in at least three FIRs. He is accused of raping two women and sexually harassing another, with suspicions that he filmed the acts on his mobile phone. He fled India shortly after the release of the incriminating videos, which were leaked via pen drives, creating a political scandal during the April 26 Lok Sabha elections in southern Karnataka.
An SIT was formed to investigate the charges, which led to the issuance of a lookout circular and an Interpol blue corner notice against him. On May 18, a Bengaluru court issued an arrest warrant.
Under mounting public pressure, JD(S) party leader and Prajwal’s grandfather, H D Deve Gowda, urged him to return to India and face the law. On May 27, Prajwal released a video message promising to return on May 31 and cooperate with the SIT.
Home Minister G Parameshwara had earlier stated that Prajwal would be arrested at the airport upon arrival.
What are the cases against Prajwal Revanna?
First case: Registered at the Holenarasipura Town police station in Hassan on April 28. Prajwal is accused of sexually harassing a 47-year-old former maid. His father, Holenarasipura MLA HD Revanna, is named as accused number 1.
Second case: Filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 1, following allegations from a 44-year-old member of the Hassan zilla panchayat that Prajwal had repeatedly raped her.
Third case: Registered at Bengaluru’s cybercrime police station on May 8. A woman in her sixties alleged that Prajwal raped her and his father HD Revanna plotted her kidnapping.