Prajwal Revanna’s mother Bhavani kingpin in sexual assault victim’s abduction: SIT to HC

The high court has reserved its order in the anticipatory bail plea but extended the interim protection against arrest granted for a week on June 7 while asking Bhavani to cooperate in the investigation by appearing before the SIT.

Bhavani Revanna ‘actively lying and misleading investigation’, argues SPP

Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Ravivarma Kumar argued before the bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit that “the investigation has revealed that this lady is the kingpin who masterminded the abduction in order to prevent the victim from lodging a complaint against her son. This is seen in the evidence that has been collected”.

“The investigation reveals that the petitioner was constantly monitoring the victims in order to cover up the allegations against her son who is accused of being a serial rapist and to protect him from being prosecuted for the sexual assaults committed by him,” Kumar argued on behalf of the SIT.

The high court was told that investigations had revealed that Bhavani managed to bring “seven victims into her net”.

“The petitioner made several efforts to contact some of the victims and other women found in the photos and videos of her son Prajwal Revanna in a diabolical manner to silence the victims of sexual assault by various means to thwart justice,” SPP Kumar said, quoting a statement of objections filed in the high court by the SIT to oppose the anticipatory bail petition.

“It is submitted that the petitioner has appeared for investigation as per the orders of this court and whenever questions to this case are posed to her she is not cooperating with the investigating agency. She is actively lying and misleading investigation efforts,” the SPP said.

“It is submitted that there is a series of digital records unearthed during the course of investigation that the petitioner has to be confronted with,” the SPP said. “It is submitted that the investigation has revealed that the petitioner is one of the masterminds who joined hands with the other accused in furtherance of a criminal conspiracy hatched by all of them to abduct and silence the victim,” he told the high court.

“It is submitted that the technical data reveals that the petitioner was in touch with the other accused through her phone and her driver’s phone for abduction. All the accused have confessed that she masterminded the abduction,” the SIT told the court while stating that Bhavani had not handed over her phone for investigations.

The high court on Friday, however, refused to cancel the interim protection against arrest given to Bhavani.

“The vehement submission of learned Special Public Prosecutor Prof. Ravi Varma Kumar appearing for the State that interim bail should not be continued even for an hour, is liable to be rejected and accordingly it is, liberty of citizen being sacrosanct,” the high court said.

On May 31, a special sessions court for elected representatives had rejected Bhavani’s anticipatory bail plea after finding a prima facie case of involvement in the kidnapping of a woman allegedly sexually assaulted 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 and seven others, including her husband H D Revanna, are being investigated under the serious kidnapping Section 364 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC)after they allegedly forced a victim of alleged sexual assault by Prajwal Revanna to leave her home and go into hiding after videos of a sexual assault by the MP emerged in the public domain in April.

During the hearing of Bhavani’s anticipatory bail plea, a senior counsel representing her had argued that the case does not attract the non-bailable kidnapping Section 364-A of the IPC. It was also argued that the efforts to arrest Bhavani amounted to “political vengeance”.

Cases against Prajwal Revanna

Rape accused Prajwal Revanna who left the country after his sex videos appeared in the public domain around the April 26 Lok Sabha polls in Hassan returned to India on May 31 and was arrested by the SIT at the Bengaluru airport.

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

In one of the cases, Prajwal 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 allegedly tried to hide the victim away to prevent legal proceedings against the MP.