Bengaluru, Aug 2 (PTI) Officials of the Special Investigation (SIT) team that are probing multiple cases of sexual assault and rape involving former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna on Saturday said that they were able to serve justice to the victim following the court sentencing the convict to life imprisonment for the remainder of his life.
The SIT team expressed confidence that they will be able to achieve similar outcomes in the remaining cases involving Revanna.
B K Singh, chief of the SIT formed to probe the alleged crimes of the former MP said that it was a challenging case to investigate as the offence had taken place four years ago.
“To collect evidence for the offence in the absence of medical reports of the victim was really really difficult but our team did a professional job,” he told reporters here.
“They collected most of the other scientific evidence except the medical report. Examining them scientifically, forensics presented them in the court. This entire case has been decided mainly based on the testimony of the victim and the scientific evidence. There were hardly any human witnesses, except three or four and “puncha witnesses” (a witness testifying to the search and seizures made by the police at crime scenes). Everything was scientifically proven,” he added.
The court had on Friday convicted Revanna of raping a 48-year-old woman who was working as a domestic help at the family’s Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district’s Holenarasipura. She was allegedly raped twice — at Hassan farm house and Bengaluru residence– in 2021, and the act was recorded by the accused on his mobile phone.
Senior IPS officer, Suman D Pennekar, who was part of the SIT team, said that during the early stages of the probe itself, investigation reports authenticated that the videos pertaining to the case were not morphed and were genuine.
“Basically, our initial thought process when the videos came out was the difficulty or the harassment that the victims had faced that was there in front of us. We were able to see what they had gone through. So, that was the point where we thought that we should give our best. On the very first day, when we saw those videos soon after the formation of SIT, we thought If they give a complaint to us independently, then we have to take it to a logical conclusion,” she told the media.
Crediting the team for their professional work, she said that they were able to prepare a foolproof chargesheet which included not only witness statements but evidence that were collected scientifically, be it DNA evidence or digital evidence, the device which was seized and the photos.
“We were able to get the report that the videos were not morphed, they were genuine and after that we were able to match the scene of crime, to match the body parts of the accused and also his voice, so most of the evidences which were collected were proved with the help of FSL (Forensic Science Laboratory). Those were submitted to the court. Eventually, we got this conviction,” the officer added.
When asked about the other pending cases of assaults against Revanna, the officer said, “We are very positive about other cases as well. More or less all the cases were investigated on the same lines. The visuals which emerged and the way the victims were treated, raped and sexually harassed everything was more or less in the similar lines. Except for the part that there were many victims. So, the investigation also happened in the same way.” “Each case was treated equally with conviction and we are sure that they will also reach this day…About the victim, we feel we have been able to serve justice,” she added. PTI AMP ADB
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