Bengaluru: Former MP and suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna was on Friday convicted by a Special Court here in one of the four sexual abuse and rape cases registered against him.
Special Court Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhat will announce the quantum of punishment on Saturday.
In April this year, the trial court framed various criminal charges against Revanna for several offences, including Section 376(2)(k) (rape of a woman by a person who is in a dominant position or a position of control) and Section 376(2)(n) (repeatedly raping a woman).
The case pertains to a 48-year-old woman who was working as a helper at the family’s Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district’s Holenarasipura. She was allegedly raped twice in 2021, and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phone.
Four separate cases have been registered against Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of rape and sexual harassment, and a Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to probe the cases against him.
Prajwal Revanna is the grandson of former Prime Minister and JD (S) patriarch H D Deve Gowda. His father, H D Revanna, is a sitting MLA and has previously held a ministerial position. His mother, Bhavani Revanna, has served on the Hassan Zila Panchayat. His brother, Suraj Revanna, is a Member of the Legislative Council (MLC), while his uncle, H D Kumaraswamy, is a JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister of Karnataka.
The Janata Dal (Secular) is allied with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Karnataka.
Revanna was elected to Parliament for the first time from the Hassan Lok Sabha seat in 2019. However, the 33-year-old failed in his bid to retain the constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. JD(S) suspended him from the party following the rape cases filed against him.
The former MP from Karnataka’s Hassan allegedly fled the country after the alleged sex scandal came to light. Later, JD(S) supremo Deve Gowda warned Revanna, asking him to return to India, surrender to the police, or face his anger and that of all family members.
