Former Karnataka minister and JD(S) MLA HD Revanna has been booked in a fresh case filed on Thursday for the alleged kidnapping of one of the women complainants who also featured in sex tapes involving Revanna’s son, Hassan MP and JD(S)’ Lok Sabha candidate Prajwal Revanna.
The incident came to light after a 20-year-old man registered a police complaint alleging that an associate of Revanna abducted his mother, who was also one of the victims of the alleged sex tapes controversy.
Police have registered a case against Revanna and Satish Babanna, a resident of Krishnarajanagara taluk in Mysore district, under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those related to kidnapping.
As per the First Information Report (FIR), the incident took place on April 29. The woman had previously worked at Revanna’s residence and farmhouse in Holenarasipura for six years. Three years ago, she resigned and went back home, where she was employed as a daily wage worker.
The FIR states that a few days before the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 26, Babanna visited the woman’s house and claimed that Revanna’s wife, Bhavani, needed her for some work. The woman returned home on April 26.
Subsequently, according to the FIR, Babanna directed the family not to cooperate with the police if they visited their residence, warning them of potential legal consequences.
On April 29 at about 9 a.m., Babanna approached the family once more. He warned them that if the woman was caught by the police, she would be charged. He then took her away, saying that Revanna had called for her, the woman’s son said as per the FIR.
“While I was looking for my mother, on May 1, a couple of my friends asked about my mother featured in the alleged sex tapes of Prajwal. I called Satish over the phone to check the whereabouts of my mother and he said that a case had been registered against her and she had to get bail”, the woman’s son said in the FIR, as quoted by The Indian Express.
A police officer from the jurisdictional police station said that the police had not traced the woman yet. “We suspect a former MLA was behind it. There has been information that some of the victims featured in Prajwal Revanna’s sex tape have been approached…may be to prevent them from filing cases,” the officer added.
Meanwhile, the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) released a statement seeking action from state government against those responsible for the circulation of the explicit videos.
Prajwal, the incumbent JD(S) MP from Hassan, is under fire for allegations of sexually abusing women. The state government has set up a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to look into the matter after numerous explicit video clips supposedly involving the 33-year-old MP surfaced recently. He ran as the NDA candidate from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, where voting took place on April 26th. JD(S) joined the NDA in September last year.
A case of molestation was already filed against the father-son duo at Holenarasipura police station. According to the state Home Minister G Parameshwara, another complaint was lodged on Wednesday night.