Bengaluru: Suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna has been sent to six-day custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) starting Friday in a case of alleged rape.
The prosecution team had requested for 14-day custody but was eventually granted just six days, according to one person directly involved in the case.
“Prajwal Revanna has been sent to six-day SIT custody. The conditions are that he can meet his lawyers between 9.30 am and 11.30 am when he is in Bengaluru and not when the SIT has taken him out of the city for any investigation-related work,” special public prosecutor Ashok Naik told ThePrint Friday.
In a packed courtroom, the judge at the Special Court of People’s Representatives in Bengaluru read out the orders around 4.30 pm Friday. Prajwal’s lawyers argued that just one day of custody would suffice, but the prosecution stuck to its demands.
According to another person directly involved in the case, the prosecution argued that the specific instance for which Prajwal was arrested was at least four years old and that the SIT had converted a case of molestation into one of rape.
Prajwal, grandson of former prime minister H. D. Deve Gowda, is a member of one of India’s most influential and prominent political families who have considerable clout in Karnataka and other parts of the country.
There are at least three official complaints of alleged rape registered against Prajwal so far, apart from complaints of sexual harassment, molestation, criminal intimidation, abduction and other serious charges filed against him and other members of his family, including his father H.D. Revanna, a former Karnataka minister.
Prajwal, the lone JD(S) Lok Sabha MP from Hassan, fled India hours after end of polling on 26 April after videos of his alleged sexual assault on women started to do the rounds online.
He was taken into custody in the early hours Friday as soon as he landed at the Bengaluru airport from Munich in Germany. He was then taken to the CID office at Chalukya Circle.
On Friday, Prajwal was taken to state-run Bowring Hospital for a general medical check-up, post which he was taken to court.
Also Read: Prajwal Revanna case shows why and how sexual crimes by men in politics can go unchecked for years
Arguments in court
A city civil court in Bengaluru Friday rejected the anticipatory bail application filed by Prajwal’s mother Bhavani, according to people aware of the developments.
Bhavani had filed for anticipatory bail as she also faces charges in the alleged abduction of one of the women assaulted by Prajwal. She is likely to be interrogated by the SIT Saturday at the family’s home in Holenarasipur, about 200 km from Bengaluru.
Though there are three cases of alleged rape filed against Prajwal, he was taken into custody only on the basis of one case, another advocate aware of the developments said.
The defence argued that the instance was at least four years old and alleged that the victim’s initial accusation of molestation had been changed later.
“It is not a case of conversion of charge from molestation to rape. She filed a case of molestation against both father and son and was not aware of the (obscene) video of her. But once she was made aware, she said that she was also raped,” the advocate said.
Though SIT officers have remained tight-lipped about the details of the case, the next line of arguments will depend on what the probe team will be able to uncover and establish.
A key piece of evidence is the phone used by Prajwal with which he is alleged to have recorded his assaults on multiple women. But the SIT is yet to determine whether that phone is still in possession of Prajwal or if it has been discarded.
In all of the obscene videos, only the faces of the victims are seen while the perpetrators’ face is not visible.
Even Prajwal’s uncle and former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has said the face of his nephew does not feature in any of the videos — insinuating that there is no evidence to suggest that the JD(S) MP is indeed the culprit.
However, the advocate cited above said that with the latest technology, a person can be identified with just a finger.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
Also Read: Lack of evidence, not enough proof he shielded son Prajwal – court order granting H.D. Revanna bail