‘Evasive’ Bhavani Revanna moves Karnataka HC for anticipatory bail in kidnap case linked to son Prajwal

The wife of H D Revanna, the JD(S) MLA from Holenarasipura, has evaded questioning by an SIT constituted to probe cases of sexual assault by her son Prajwal Revanna. She was summoned on June 1 by the SIT in connection with the kidnap of a victim of sexual assault by her son but did not turn up for the questioning.

On May 31, a special court had rejected her anticipatory bail plea by ruling that there is prima facie material placed on record by the SIT to suggest her involvement in the abduction of a victim of sexual assault by her son.

The special court observed that statements of the victim, witnesses, and the sister of the victim corroborate the prosecution’s argument that Bhavani Revanna “had played a specific overt act” in the kidnapping episode”.

Bhavani Revanna and seven others including H D Revanna are being investigated under Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code which attracts life imprisonment. The accused reportedly forced a victim of alleged sexual assault by Prajwal Revanna to leave her home and go into hiding after videos of a sexual assault on her by the MP emerged in April.

In the course of the hearing of the anticipatory bail plea of Bhavani Revanna, a senior counsel representing her had argued that the case does not attract the non-bailable kidnapping Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code. It was also argued that the efforts to arrest Bhavani Revanna amounted to “political vengeance”.

The SIT argued that the entire incident of abduction was planned and committed by Bhavani Revanna in order to shield her son in the criminal cases of sexual assault brought against him.

The rape accused Prajwal Revanna who left the country after his sex videos appeared in the public domain around the date of the Lok Sabha poll in Hassan returned to India on May 31 and was arrested by the SIT at the Bengaluru International Airport.

The SIT has registered three cases of sexual assault against Prajwal Revanna on the basis of evidence found in the alleged sex videos and after tracing the victims found in the videos.

In one of the cases of sexual assault, Prajwal Revanna is accused of the rape of a domestic worker who was employed in the family household a few years ago. After the sex videos of the MP emerged in the public domain, his family members and associates are alleged to have tried to hide the victim away to prevent legal proceedings against the MP.

Earlier, on May 4, the special court had rejected an anticipatory bail plea of Prajwal Revanna’s father H D Revanna in the kidnapping case of the alleged sexual assault victim. This led to the arrest of the JD(S) MLA after the victim was traced by the SIT on May 5.

On May 13, the special court had ruled that despite the serious allegation of sexual assault against Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, his father H D Revanna cannot be denied bail for the alleged abduction of the victim of sexual assault in the absence of evidence.

“It is noticed from the records that though the allegation leveled against the petitioner is of abducting the victim, no materials have been produced to indicate his active role at this juncture,” special court Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhatt ruled on May 13.

The SIT has now challenged the bail granted to H D Revanna in the Karnataka High Court while the latter has himself filed a petition for the quashing of the kidnapping case.

Ahead of the announcement of the results of the Lok Sabha polls on June 4, Prajwal Revanna’s father expressed confidence that his son would retain the Hassan seat as the NDA candidate despite the rape allegations that emerged on the eve of the polls on April 26.