Karnataka HC bars arrest but allows probe of former BJP MLA in Prajwal Revanna sexual harassment case

“The investigation can go on as per the discretion of the investigating officer,” the High Court said adding that there should be “no arrest and detention” unless there is lack of cooperation by the accused person.

“This order shall not come in the way of any material being discovered” by the investigating agency, the High Court said while allowing interrogation of the former BJP MLA from 7 am to 9 pm.

During the arguments, the advocate for Preetham Gowda stated that the former MLA was not involved in any way with the sexual harassment of a victim by Prajwal Revanna. He called the inclusion of the former BJP MLA’s name in the case “a political witch hunt” by the investigation agency.

The state prosecution, however, argued that Preetham Gowda and others have been accused of sharing the pictures of the sexual harassment by the victim herself in her complaint.

Incidentally, the former BJP MLA from Hassan town, Preetham Gowda, is a bitter political rival of the former JDS MP from Hassan, Prajwal Revanna.

Preetham Gowda was opposed to the candidature of Prajwal Revanna in Hassan as the NDA candidate after the BJP and JDS forged an alliance for the April 26 Lok Sabha polls.

The SIT, which is investigating cases of sexual assault and harassment against Prajwal Revanna, named Preetham Gowda alongside Prajwal Revanna in a case of sexual harassment filed against the former MP on June 12.

Police sources said that Preetham Gowda and two others, Kiran and Sharath, are accused of sharing images that were recorded by Prajwal Revanna in the course of sexual harassment of a victim on video calls.

The victim of sexual harassment has filed a complaint stating the entire episode caused embarrassment and loss of image for her whole family in Hassan.

The recording of the harassment was among over 2,900 clips that were on the mobile phones of the former MP which were leaked into the public domain by his political rivals ahead of the April 26 polls for the Hassan Lok Sabha seat – where Prajwal Revanna was defeated.

Prajwal Revanna, against whom charges of rape emerged at the end of April following the leak of explicit videos and images through pen drives distributed in Hassan ahead of the April 26 Lok Sabha polls, flew to Europe on April 27, soon after the polls. He returned on May 31 and was arrested at the Bengaluru airport.

An SIT has been constituted by the Karnataka government to probe the sexual assault videos that were allegedly accessed from the MP’s phone by a car driver and leaked to political rivals of the MP. As many as 2,900 files with videos and images from sexual encounters of the MP were found on pen drives that were leaked.

The SIT has filed three cases of sexual assault and one case of sexual harassment against the former JDS MP based on the evidence gathered from the leaked videos and the statements of victims who were identified from the video recordings and images leaked in the public domain.