In fresh case, Prajwal Revanna booked for repeatedly raping former maid in her 60s

Hassan MP accused of sexually assaulting woman; his father was arrested over her 'abduction'

Bengaluru: In the third case against Prajwal Revanna, the JD(S) MP from Hassan has been booked for repeatedly raping an elderly woman from Mysuru's KR Nagar. 

His father and JD(S) MLA H D Revanna has already been arrested for plotting the woman's abduction and keeping her in illegal confinement at a farmhouse at Kalenahalli in Mysuru's Hunsur taluk. 

On May 4, before Revanna was arrested by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), the probe team rescued the woman from the farmhouse belonging to the MLA’s aide Rajashekar. 

The fresh rape case against Prajwal was registered at Bengaluru's cybercrime police station based on the woman's statement.  

Well-placed sources said that the woman, said to be in her sixties, was seen pleading in the video before being sexually assaulted. The video is allegedly part of the Hassan pen drive saga where visuals of purported sexual assault and harassment by Prajwal were leaked days before the Lok Sabha polls. 

Prajwal has been booked under IPC sections 376(2)(n) (commits rape repeatedly on the same woman), 376(2)(k) (being in a position of control or dominance over a woman, commits rape on such woman), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 354C (voyeurism) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation). 

DH has reviewed the case details from the 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) Court. 

The rape charges alone carry a punishment of "rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than ten years, but which may extend to imprisonment for life, which shall mean imprisonment for the remainder of that person's natural life, and shall also be liable to fine". 

Before this, Prajwal was accused of repeated rape by a former 44-year-old Hassan zilla panchayat member in a case registered on May 1 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). He is also accused number 2 in a sexual harassment case involving a 47-year-old former house help registered at the Holenarasipur Town police station in Hassan on April 28, where his father Revanna was named as accused 1.

Separately, KR Nagar police registered a kidnapping and illegal confinement case on May 2 following a complaint by the survivor’s 20-year-old son. The complainant had alleged that Satish Babanna, who later turned out to be Revanna’s aide, had visited their home on April 29 and taken the survivor allegedly at the MLA’s behest. 

On May 3, police arrested Babanna. A court later sent him to judicial custody. 

Revanna, the accused 1 in the case, is currently in judicial custody till May 14. His bail application will be heard on Monday while Babanna is being grilled by the SIT. 

Meanwhile, Prajwal, who flew to Germany soon after Phase II Lok Sabha polls in the state on April 26, remains at large, even as a Blue Corner Notice was issued by Interpol following a request from the SIT via the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).