Prajwal sent to judicial custody till June 24, was 'evasive during SIT grilling'

Bengaluru: A Bengaluru court remanded rape-accused former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna to judicial custody till June 24 at the end of his custody with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Monday.

Prajwal, 33, was produced before the 42nd Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate (ACMM) court and was remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. The SIT did not seek a further extension of the former MP’s custody.

Following the court’s directions, the SIT moved Prajwal to Parappana Agrahara Central Prison.

During the day, the SIT took Prajwal for a spot mahazar (recreation of the crime scene) at the house of his father H D Revanna in Bengaluru's Basavanagudi. A spot mahazar was also held at the MP’s house in Hassan's Holenarsipura on Saturday.

Prajwal was arrested in the early hours of May 31 after he returned from Munich, Germany. He had fled the country soon after the Lok Sabha polls on April 26. He was sent to SIT custody till June 6, and the magistrate later extended it to June 10.

During the custody, the SIT gathered several pieces of evidence and put Prajwal through a series of questions. However, a well-placed police source revealed that Prajwal was evasive to the questions posed by the probe team, especially regarding the incident, the survivors and the mobile devices purportedly used to record the obscene videos that were leaked in Hassan, days before the Lok Sabha polls on April 26.

DH also learnt that the former MP's voice samples were being analysed, which will be key to proving the veracity of the videos. In none of the leaked videos, Prajwal’s face was visible but some had audio.

The SIT may also seek a body warrant and get Prajwal’s custody again to investigate two other cases of rape as they only showed his arrest in the first case of sexual harassment registered at the Holenarasipura Town Police Station in Hassan on April 28.

Three separate cases were registered against the former MP, which are all being investigated by the SIT.

In the first case, Prajwal is the co-accused along with his father JD(S) MLA H D Revanna where they allegedly sexually harassed a former 47-year-old house help.

A second case was filed by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 1 after a 44-year-old former member of the Hassan zilla panchayat accused Prajwal of repeated rape.

The third case, filed at the KR Nagar police station in Mysuru district on May 2, pertains to rape allegations by a woman in her 60s. In this case, the SIT had arrested Revanna, who is currently out on bail, and is questioning his wife Bhavani Revanna - who recently received interim relief - for allegedly plotting the woman’s kidnap.