BENGALURU
A special court in Bengaluru on Friday convicted former Hassan MP and suspended JD(S) leader Prajwal Revanna in a rape case involving a former domestic worker employed at his family’s farmhouse. The verdict marks the first conviction among the four sexual assault cases filed against him. Sentencing is scheduled for Saturday.
The trial began on May 2, 2025, and concluded in under two months with daily hearings. The case was registered following a complaint by a middle-aged woman, who alleged that Revanna raped her twice in 2021 and later confined her at a farmhouse near Mysuru after videos of the assaults surfaced online. She was rescued on May 5, 2024.
Revanna, 34, was arrested on May 31, 2024, after returning from Germany, where he had fled following the leak of explicit videos on April 26. The Karnataka Police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) filed a 1,632-page chargesheet in December 2024, naming 113 witnesses. Forensic evidence, including DNA traces and voice analysis, played a crucial role in the conviction. The video from the first incident, showing the woman resisting, was part of the evidence.
The court found Revanna guilty of rape while in a position of dominance, sexual harassment, and criminal intimidation under relevant IPC sections. He was seen leaving the courtroom in tears following the verdict.
Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, had contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Hassan but lost amid public outrage over the video leaks. His conviction has reignited debate over political accountability and protection for survivors in sexual assault cases involving influential figures.