Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court will, on Thursday, take up the bail plea of former Janata Dal-MP Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, in the sex video scandal and the proceedings will be held in camera.
The bail plea has been moved in connection with the case registered at Holenarasipura police station by the victim.
A bench, headed by Justice M. Nagaprasanna, had stated in the last hearing on Monday that an in-camera hearing order will be secured from the Chief Justice and counsels would be informed in this regard.The state government had submitted the request for in-camera proceedings to the court to protect the privacy of the victims.
Senior counsel Prabhuling Navadgi, appearing for Prajwal Revanna, had argued that the lodging of a rape case against his client is inappropriate as the rape charge was not made initially in the complaint.
The charge of rape is being levelled at the time of the investigation, he said.
Prajwal Revanna is facing charges of sexually assaulting a 47-year-old maid and later sending porn videos to the victim’s daughter and threatening that her daughter would also meet the same fate.
He was arrested at the Bengaluru International Airport early on May 30, while he was returning from Germany after both his grandfather Deve Gowda and uncle, now Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H.D. Kumaraswamy made a public appeal that he has to come and face authorities.
Prajwal Revanna had lost the Lok Sabha election. His father and JD-S MLA H.D. Revanna was also arrested and is out on bail in the kidnap and rape case linked to the sex video scam. Mother Bhavani Revanna is also out on bail in the case.
Prajwal Revanna’s younger brother, JD-S MLC Suraj Revanna, was also arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting male party workers and was later released on bail.
The SIT probing the case against Prajwal Revanna submitted a 1,632-page additional charge sheet in the case, which included 113 witnesses’ evidence, on Monday.
Police sources stated that the elderly maid was raped many times by Prajwal Revanna after threatening her. He had recorded the act and also recorded the victim pleading, with both hands folded, that she had served food to his grandfather and father while he was committing the assault on her.
The charge sheet also mentioned that the accused had asked the victim to get a glass of water at the farmhouse. When she came into the room on the first floor of the farmhouse, he had locked the door and committed the crime. The accused had again committed the crime at the family residence in Basavanagudi in Bengaluru. He had threatened that if she opened her mouth, the sex videos would be sent to her son. The victim had recorded her statement before the court under Cr PC Section 164 and major witnesses have also recorded their statements.
The SIT had sent the bed sheets from the residence and farmhouse of Prajwal Revanna and the victim’s clothes for forensic analysis, after collecting samples of sperm and strands of hair from them. Sources stated that the SIT is awaiting the results in this regard.
Prajwal Revanna was also subjected to the DNA test earlier and the reports will be matched once the FSL reports come in.
(IANS)
