Ex-JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna moves Karnataka High Court against rape conviction, alleges inconsistencies in evidence

Prajwal Revanna has been in custody since his arrest in May last year on returning from Germany, where he had fled after several videos surfaced allegedly showing him sexually assaulting women.

By: Express News Service

Bengaluru | September 29, 2025 07:12 PM IST

2 min read

Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna has moved the Karnataka High Court against his conviction last month in one of the rape cases filed against him, wherein a special court for legislators awarded him a life sentence. Revanna is challenging the conviction on grounds including alleged inconsistencies in the evidence.

Revanna, the former Hassan MP, has been in custody since his arrest in May last year on returning from Germany, where he had fled after several videos surfaced allegedly showing him sexually assaulting women. Apart from the life sentence imposed on him, the court has also ordered the payment of Rs 11.25 lakh collected as fines to the woman. She was sexually assaulted while working as a domestic worker at the farmhouse of Revanna’s family.

The Special Investigation Team had relied on video evidence as well as DNA analysis of hair follicles and residual body fluid found on a garment worn by the woman on the day that she was assaulted.

Revanna’s petition against the conviction argues that the actual evidence provided by the woman is contradictory to the contents of the police complaint. The petition also raises several contentions regarding inconsistencies in the evidence, such as questions as to how stains on a mattress could remain when examined in May 2024 without having been cleaned, when the alleged incident had happened between January 2021 and the end of January 2022.

Other questions by Revanna’s petition related to the delay in lodging the complaint as well as the fact that the woman had attended a housewarming ceremony on the farmhouse premises in 2023.

Last Wednesday, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a petition filed by Revanna seeking the transfer of two cases away from the judge hearing the matter on the grounds of alleged bias.

A date for Revanna’s latest petition to be heard has not yet been set.

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