Janata Dal (Secular) candidate in Hassan, Prajwal Revanna.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
The State government on April 27 announced a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe an alleged sex scandal involving incumbent Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda. He is the NDA candidate from Hassan in the Lok Sabha elections too.
A pen drive with thousands of sex videos featuring multiple women, allegedly recorded by the politician himself, had been doing the rounds ahead of elections in the constituency.
Meanwhile, sources in the Karnataka State Commission for Women said that a victim had come forward and lodged a complaint with them that multiple members of the politician’s family had sexually abused her and there was a threat to her life. The complaint has now been forwarded to the State police chief, sources said.
“The government has decided to form a SIT to probe the Prajwal Revanna sex videos case. The Karnataka State Commission for Women had sought a SIT probe into the case and based on their appeal the SIT has been formed,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah posted on X (formerly twitter).
Sources in the police claimed that Mr. Prajwal Revanna had left the country and was abroad presently.
The SIT will be headed by B. K. Singh, Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the sources said. Mr. Singh headed the SIT that successfully cracked the murders of Gauri Lankesh and M. M. Kalburgi.
Earlier, Nagalakshmi Chowdhury, chairperson, Karnataka State Commission for Women, had written to the Karnataka State Police Chief Alok Mohan seeking a SIT probe into the scandal.
The letter says that Karnataka Rajya Mahila Daurjanya Virodhi Okkuta lodged a complaint to the commission, bringing to its notice that a pen drive with several sex videos of women was doing the rounds. Significantly, these videos also include rape videos where the prominent politician is allegedly forcing himself on women, the letter claimed, seeking a SIT probe into the videos and also who leaked them.
Days ahead of polling in Hassan on Friday, several pen drives with a dump of these videos, allegedly including two rape videos, were circulated widely in Hassan. Many pen drives were thrown in prominent public places like parks, bus stops and a stadium, sources said.