Karnataka’s special investigative team to probe Prajwal Revanna case from three angles

Special teams to investigate victim statements, video authenticity, and accused’s whereabouts in the massive sex tape case involving the Hassan MP.

National Students’ Union of India members burn a poster of Prajwal in Bengaluru. | Photo Credit: SHAILENDRA BHOJAK

The noose is tightening for Hassan MP, Prajwal Revanna, and his father, MLA H. D. Revanna, as the Special Investigative Team (SIT) formed to probe the massive sex scandal purportedly consisting of more than 2,900 sex videos has formed three sub-teams to investigate the serious crimes. The SIT, which has already issued notices to the duo to appear before them within 24 hours, consists of 18 senior police officials and is headed by Additional Director General of Police and chief of CID, Bijay Kumar Singh. Two senior women IPS officers, Suman. D. Pennekar and Seema Latkar have also been made members of the SIT.

According to sources within the police department, the first team will be based in Hassan and record the confessions of the spate of victims. The second team will approach the case by focussing on the videos. This team will verify the authenticity of the videos, the IP addresses from where they were first uploaded and how they were spread on social media. The third team will focus on investigating the whereabouts of the accused, including Prajwal who has fled to Germany. According to the SIT, a red corner notice issued to extradite criminals or suspects who flee their home country, is also being prepared to ensure that Prajwal is brought back to India in case he does not respond to the notice summoning him for the investigation.

Suspended from the JD(S)

The case involving the massive number of obscene videos has also revealed the simmering differences within the clan of former Prime Minister H. D. Devegowda with his son, Revanna, and grandson, Prajwal, left to fend for themselves. It is well known in Karnataka that Revanna and H. D. Kumaraswamy have had severe differences in the past regarding the future direction of the JD(S) and candidate selection for the Assembly elections that took place last year. While Devegowda himself has not spoken about the issue pertaining to the alleged crimes committed by his grandson, his son and former Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy has sought to distance himself from the entire imbroglio by stating that this has nothing to do with himself or his father. Further, Prajwal has been suspended from the JD(S) after most of the party’s 19 MLAs demanded that the tarnished MP be removed from the party.

JD(S) supremo H.D. Devegowda | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

Amid the frenetic political developments following the revelation of this bombshell of an issue, Kumaraswamy also blamed Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister, D. K. Shivakumar, for releasing the pen drive containing the obscene videos. In a press conference, the JD(S) supremo stated the Congress was using the issue to win the elections.

“The Congress is using the obscene videos to strategically win the elections. The Deputy Chief Minister (Shivakumar) who talks about women’s honour has ensured that the women’s faces have been revealed in the videos. To shame these women is the Congress’ ‘sixth guarantee’ in Karnataka,” Kumaraswamy said. The SIT must investigate who shared the pen drive [containing the videos], he added. “The Congress released the videos as it hopes to win four to five closely contested seats from among the 14 seats in north Karnataka that will vote on May 7.”

Shivakumar responded to these allegations by stating that he was not one who would fall back on “chillare kelasa” (petty actions) to contest elections. “I face my political opponents directly and challenge them in the Legislative Assembly. I don’t threaten them with pen drives and CDs in my pocket. This is because I have Kempegowda’s (16th-century ruler of Bengaluru) blood in my veins,” Shivakumar said.

Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. | Photo Credit: MURALI KUMAR K

While the videos have been viral in Hassan, it is still unclear who leaked them in the first place: Was it Karthik, the driver of the Revanna family for 15 years, who had a grievance against his employers who he claims forced him to handover his land, or was it the long-time bugbear of Revanna and Hassan BJP leader, G. Devarajegowda, who had even written a letter to BJP Karnataka president, B. Y. Vijayendra, in December last year?

According to Karthik, who released a video statement from an unknown location, he handed the pen drive to Devarajegowda. “I did not have faith that the Congress would serious follow up on the issue so I gave the pen drive to Devarajegowda hoping that he would ensure justice for the victims.”

Closed-door meeting

In his December letter, Devarajegowda warned Vijayendra that the pen drive had already reached “national leaders of the Congress.” With Devarajegowda continuing to reiterate that he did not share the videos, the issue is becoming murkier with no clarity on the provenance of these videos on social media.

According to a Hassan-based journalist, there was an awareness that indecent videos of Prajwal were available over the past year but the magnitude of the crimes became clear only on April 22. “On April 21, a closed-door meeting of political activists who were opposed to Prajwal’s candidature took place in Hassan where pen drives containing hundreds of videos were distributed with instructions that individual videos be shared through social media channels such as WhatsApp.

It was after this that the videos began to be circulated on April 22 and Kannada news channels picked it up a couple of days later. By the time elections took place on April 26, the videos were widely available among voters in Hassan,” the journalist said with a request to not reveal his name. Among the videos that this journalist briefly viewed before deleting was one where an elderly woman was pleading with Prajwal but the young political scion paid no heed to her pleas.

While it is unclear who the ‘political activists’ were who planned this revelation, it is pertinent to note that there was tremendous opposition to Prajwal’s candidature from members of the BJP, their alliance partner. The BJP cadre in Hassan were reluctant to canvass for Prajwal and it was only at the high command’s prodding that activists of the saffron party reluctantly joined the campaign.

Aware that these private videos could tarnish his reputation irreparably, Prajwal had even procured an injunction order from a civil court in Bengaluru claiming that these were “morphed” videos against 86 media outlets and three individuals in June last year. This court order deterred any reportage on the issue and it was only last week that the gargantuan scale of the scandal came to light, after the State Commission for Women took cognisance of the case, spurring the Congress government to form a SIT. Interestingly, a BJP politician, K. E. Kantesh, the son of BJP rebel candidate in Shivamogga, K. S. Eshwarappa, also secured an injunction order on April 27 from a Bengaluru Civil Court proscribing media outlets from sharing his “morphed obscene videos.”