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New Delhi: Former JDS MP Prajwal Revanna has been convicted of raping and abducting a domestic worker from KR Nagar. The Special Court of the People’s Representatives in Bengaluru, presided over by Judge Santosh Gajanana Bhat, sentenced him to life imprisonment and imposed a total fine of Rs 10 lakh. Of this amount, Rs 7 lakh will be given to the victim.
The verdict was delivered under Section 376(2)(k) of the IPC and was announced in a record time of just four months. The court had found Prajwal guilty on Friday and reserved the sentencing for Saturday. After hearing the arguments this morning, Judge Bhat pronounced the life sentence. The judgment pertains to one of four cases against Prajwal Revanna, which include three rape cases and one sexual assault case.
The case is about the rape of a 48-year-old domestic worker employed at the Revanna family’s Gannikada farmhouse in Holenarasipura, Hassan district. She was allegedly assaulted twice in 2021, first time at the farmhouse and later at a residence in Bengaluru. Revanna is accused of recording the assaults on his mobile phone.
In this case, the prosecution submitted a 1,632-page charge sheet, which included 183 documents along with both electronic and non-electronic evidence. The victim's family and 26 other witnesses were examined during the trial. The court had been continuously hearing the matter since May 2 to deliver the verdict as quickly as possible.
The cases came to light when pornographic videos allegedly involving Prajwal were circulated ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Hassan on April 26, 2024. The SIT arrested Prajwal at Bengaluru airport on May 31 last year in connection with a case registered at the Holenarasipura Town Police Station, after he returned from Germany. Prajwal lost the Hassan parliamentary seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, and the JD(S) later suspended him from the party.
Prajwal appeared visibly nervous during the hearing on Friday and reportedly broke down in tears when the judge pronounced him guilty. The hearing in the case concluded on July 18, and the verdict was initially reserved for July 30. However, the judge adjourned the pronouncement until Friday to seek clarifications on mobile location data and other technical evidence.
