Sexual harassment case: Third FIR filed against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna

One more rape case has been registered against JD(S) MP and Lok Sabha poll candidate from Hassan Prajwal Revanna, taking the number of cases pertaining to the alleged sexual harassment of several women to three, police sources said.

The FIR was registered against Prajwal on 8 May in Bengaluru, according to sources in the Special Investigation Team which was constituted for a probe after a huge cache of explicit videos allegedly showing Prajwal sexually abusing several women became public.

A case has been registered under sections 376(2)(N), 376(2)(K), 354(A), 354(B), 354(C) and 506 of the IPC. These cases pertain to repeated rape, voyeurism, filming, demand for sexual favours, dragging by clothes, molestation and threatening.

The details of the victim have not been shared by the SIT sources.

Prajwal is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda and stood for the 26 April Lok Sabha election in Hassan as the NDA candidate. His party had formed an alliance with the BJP in 2023.

Just before the election, the videos went viral on social media.

The first FIR pertains to the molestation of his cook in Holenarasipura in Hassan. Prajwal’s father and Holenarasipura MLA H D Revanna is also an accused in the case. The second case pertains to raping a JD(S) worker at gunpoint.

H D Revanna is already lodged in the Central Jail at Parappara Agrahara under judicial custody after a 20-year-old youth alleged that Revanna and his aide kidnapped his mother. The youth said his mother had figured in one of the videos where she was allegedly tied and raped by Prajwal.

The Hassan MP is at large and is believed to be hiding abroad. A Blue Corner notice of the Interpol seeking information on his whereabouts has been issued against Prajwal.