Prajwal Revanna, former JD(S) MP and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, was on Saturday sentenced to life imprisonment and fined Rs 11 lakh for raping a 47-year-old domestic worker in Mysuru and recording it.
The Rs 11 lakh fine will go to the rape survivor as compensation. The verdict was delivered just 14 months after the case was registered, with the trial concluding at a remarkable pace.
The case, which was registered at the Cyber Crime Station of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), accused Revanna of raping the woman on two occasions and recording the act.
The sexual assault cases against Prajwal Revanna, who was the BJP candidate for Lok Sabha polls from Hassan, came to the forefront after a pen drive containing explicit videos, filmed by him was reportedly circulated ahead of the elections.
However, Revanna claimed the "obscene videos" involving him were morphed and had filed a complaint in this regard.
The trial commenced on December 31, 2024. Over the next seven months, the court examined 23 witnesses and reviewed key forensic science laboratory (FSL) reports of the video clips, as well as spot inspection reports from the scene of the crime.
During the course of the investigation and trial, the survivor submitted a saree as physical evidence, which she had preserved. Forensic analysis later confirmed the presence of sperm on the saree, which was presented in court and accepted as key evidence in establishing the rape.
The CID’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), led by Inspector Shobha, collected 123 pieces of evidence during the course of the investigation and submitted a voluminous chargesheet spanning nearly 2,000 pages.
Revanna was convicted under sections 376(2)(k) and 376(2)(n) along with Sections 354(A), 354(B) and 354(C) of the IPC.
Source: India Today