Rape-accused Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna arrives in Bengaluru from Munich, arrested
Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, facing sexual assault charges, had left India on April 27.
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Suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of sexually abusing several women, returns to India to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT), at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, Friday (PTI photos)Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing sexual assault charges, was arrested by the Karnataka Police after he arrived at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport in the early hours of Friday.
After getting information about his arrival from Interpol on Thursday afternoon, a Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team (SIT), the Bengaluru police, and immigration authorities had made preparations to arrest the MP from the airport itself. He was taken into custody by the SIT.
He had left the country on April 27 – a day after voting in the Hassan parliamentary constituency.
The SIT, which is probing the cases against him, received information from Interpol on Thursday afternoon that Prajwal boarded a Lufthansa flight from Munich, SIT sources said. Interpol had issued a Blue Corner notice for Prajwal earlier this month following a request from the SIT.
The flight carrying Prajwal landed in Bengaluru at 12.49 am on Friday. It had been scheduled to take off from Munich, in Germany, at 12.05 pm local time (3.35 pm IST) Thursday, according to information given to Karnataka authorities by Interpol.
Prajwal Revanna arrives at SIT at Palace road in Bengaluru . (Screen grab)
The MP, who is seeking reelection from Hassan, had said in a video message earlier this week that he would present himself before the SIT at 10 am on Friday, May 31.
On Wednesday, he had filed an anticipatory bail plea at a local court, which adjourned proceedings to Friday mid-morning.
“He will first be detained by immigration authorities, who will execute the lookout circular issued against his name, and he will be handed to the local police. The SIT will take custody from the local police,” an SIT officer said ahead of his arrival.
The Bengaluru police have provided additional security at the airport.
The SIT was constituted by the Karnataka government on April 28 after Prajwal Revanna left the country amid the emergence in the public domain of objectionable videos allegedly involving him. Several of the videos allegedly also indicated instances of sexual assault on women. The SIT is investigating three cases of alleged rape against the MP.
Voice sample likely to be collected
Sources said that while primary evidence in the three FIRs of rape filed against Prajwal is the statements of the three victims, the SIT has also built up secondary evidence, including verifying the locations where the videos allegedly showing the assault were shot, and analysing physical attributes and sounds of people in the video to establish their case against the JD(S) MP.
The SIT has also been using technical data like cell phone tower location information of the accused and the victims. Statements have also been collected from over a dozen witnesses, sources said.
On Wednesday, the SIT seized beds, cots and furniture from Prajwal’s MP quarters in Hassan. His voice samples and other attributes, including DNA, are likely to be collected after his arrest, sources said.
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