Prajwal Revanna: Absconding MP says will return to India to face sex abuse cases

An Indian lawmaker who fled the nation after being accused of sexual assault is about to return this week, greater than a month after 1000’s of USB sticks with movies of the alleged abuse have been circulated in his house state.

Prajwal Revanna, an MP from Hassan district in Karnataka who’s looking for re-election, had left India on 27 April utilizing his diplomatic passport after the movies went viral.

This week, he posted a video from an undisclosed location, saying he would return to India on 31 May to seem earlier than a police staff investigating the fees.

He has denied the allegations of rape and sexual abuse, terming them a “political conspiracy”.

Mr Revanna belongs to an influential political household – he’s the grandson of former Indian prime minister HD Deve Gowda, who’s the chief of the state’s politically highly effective Vokkaliga neighborhood. His Janata Dal (Secular), or JD (S) get together, is an ally of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Prajwal Revanna’s father HD Revanna and uncle HD Kumaraswamy are each influential legislators within the Karnataka state meeting.

HD Revanna can also be accused of sexual harassment and prison intimidation within the police grievance lodged by a former worker of the household. He was arrested for six days however freed on bail final month. He has additionally denied the allegations, calling them a political conspiracy.

In the previous month whereas Mr Revanna was absent, worry and disquiet have gripped Hassan, which has been a stronghold of his household for many years.

“It is too embarrassing to speak about what happened here,” a younger shopkeeper within the district informed the BBC.

Roopa Hassan, a girls’s rights activist working within the state, says lots of households have left the district over the previous month.

“Many haven’t come out of their houses for weeks,” she stated.

The allegations in opposition to Mr Revanna first got here to gentle in June final yr, however he obtained a courtroom order stopping media from reporting what was described as “morphed videos”. But 5 days earlier than the 26 April election in Hassan, 1000’s of pen drives have been circulated in public locations reminiscent of bus stands and parks.

They contained 2,960 clips, which reviews say have been shot by Mr Revanna himself, and confirmed the faces of the ladies.

On 28 April, one of many survivors lodged a police grievance, accusing Mr Revanna of raping her between 1 January 2021 and 25 April 2024 in his official authorities bungalow.

She alleged that the politician had recorded the assault on his telephone and used it to blackmail her and that he threatened her and her husband with a gun if she didn’t “obey” him. Mr Revanna didn’t deal with any of those direct allegations in his video.

The couple, who stated they’d been “loyal” JD(S) get together employees for many years, have alleged that they have been pressured to go away Hassan since their police grievance.

The state authorities shaped a particular investigation staff to look into the fees in opposition to Mr Revanna after one other girl approached the ladies’s fee with related accusations.

Since then, police have acquired two extra complaints of rape in opposition to the MP.

On 1 May, Mr Revanna’s lawyer informed the SIT that he wouldn’t give you the option to take part within the inquiry since he was not within the nation.

In a social media submit the identical day, Mr Revanna additionally sought per week’s time to seem earlier than investigators, saying that the “truth will prevail soon”. But he did not return to India in per week.

In May, the state authorities wrote to the federal overseas ministry twice, asking it to cancel Mr Revanna’s diplomatic passport. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar responded saying the request had been acquired late and that motion was initiated on the request on 23 May.

The case has sparked a political storm in Karnataka with the state’s governing Congress get together and the opposition blaming one another over who ought to have taken motion in opposition to Mr Revanna when the movies surfaced.

A state minister accused the BJP of fielding Mr Revanna for the election regardless of realizing that “hundreds of women had been abused by the candidate”. Some reviews stated that the BJP’s state leaders had warned get together leaders in Delhi about Mr Revanna’s alleged misconduct.

Meanwhile in Hassan, individuals stay reluctant to focus on the case, with two feminine college students known as it “disgusting”.

“Boys in our school are speaking about it. But we really feel repulsed and do not even need to pay attention to what occurred,” considered one of them stated.

“People change off their TV units now as a result of they solely present this shameful episode,” a resident who didn’t need to be named stated. “We are sick of this. This has given the district such a nasty title.”

Mr Gowda and Mr Kumaraswamy have distanced themselves from the controversy and made a number of public appeals for Prajwal Revanna to return to the nation.

Last week, Mr Kumaraswamy apologised to get together employees on behalf of the household.

“Be assured that I shall do all the things attainable to battle to your trigger,” he stated.

But a senior JD(S) employee, who needed to keep nameless, informed the BBC that get together employees have been “depressed and upset’’ over the allegations.

“We have been all like an prolonged household of Mr Deve Gowda,” she stated.