Karnataka High Court on Friday dismissed the bail petition of suspended JD(S) leader and sensational sex video scandal prime accused Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former PM H.D. Deve Gowda, in the fourth case against him.
The court had earlier rejected the former MP's bail pleas in connection with three cases and the order on the fourth case - of the alleged rape of a former Zilla Panchayat member at his office - was pending.
A bench of Justice M. Nagaprasanna passed the order in the case, rejecting the bail plea.
The former Zilla Panchayat member has accused the MLA of the Tumakuru district, Revanna of sexually assaulting her over three years and recording videos of the act which was allegedly used to threaten and blackmail her into cooperating with the former MP's demands.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) is probing four cases against Prajwal Revanna among which three are rape cases and a case of recording of video of a victim of sexual harassment.
Counsel for Revanna, Arun, submitted that he wants to withdraw the bail petition from the court. The bench maintained the stand that bail plea cannot be withdrawn on the day it is scheduled to pronounce orders. "We are not relying on the charge sheet submitted in the case while giving this order," said the bench.
"The bail plea is dismissed on the basis of the complaint and the Supreme Court judgment," the court stated.
The Supreme Court on Nov 11 dismissed a bail petition filed by Revanna.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who appeared for Revanna, argued that opponents had hatched a conspiracy to reap political benefits. "I was earlier an MP, I was contesting for MP and I lost because of all this," he said, adding that a charge sheet has been filed against Revanna and he has been behind bars for four months.
Refusing to entertain the matter, a bench headed by Justice Bela M. Trivedi dismissed Revanna's special leave petition seeking bail. Further, the Bench also comprising Justice S.C. Sharma said that it would not pass any order granting liberty to apply afresh for bail after a period of six months.
The Karnataka High Court had set aside Revanna's plea for bail in two rape cases and a case for the recording of video of a victim of sexual harassment in an order passed on October 21.
A rape case had been filed against Prajwal Revanna by one of the victims of Hassan in the Bengaluru Cyber police station. His bail had been rejected by the trial court in the matter.
Another case is related to the sexual assault of a maid at the farmhouse in Holenarasipura. A disturbing video of the incident has gone viral on social media during the Lok Sabha election, as the footage of the aged maid, pleading with him to spare her as she is an elderly lady, who served food to his father and other elders of the family as she was sexually assaulted, had stirred outrage.
The victim was kidnapped after the video surfaced on social media and the police had arrested Revanna's father and JD-S MLA H.D. Revanna. Currently, he is out on conditional bail.
Interestingly, the police had also issued an arrest warrant against Prajwal's mother Bhavani Revanna in this case. However, she managed to get anticipatory bail. The bail order was challenged by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the Supreme Court and the apex court upheld the bail order passed by the Karnataka High Court.
Another case relates to compelling a woman from Hassan to disrobe and film her video when she sought admission for her son to a reputed school and approached Revanna. Both the cases were lodged at the Cyber police station in Bengaluru.
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