New Delhi — Prajwal Revanna, a member of India’s parliament from the southern state of Karnataka, has left the nation amid allegations that he sexually assaulted a number of girls over the previous couple of years and recorded the acts on his cellphone. One other politician, from an allied occasion, stated he obtained a USB drive containing the movies, a few of which have leaked on-line, and he is accused Revanna of utilizing them to blackmail girls into persevering with sexual relationships with him.
Revanna is the grandson of former Indian Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. He is at present a Member of Parliament for the Janata Dal Secular Occasion (JDS), which is allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Occasion (BJP).
Revanna is looking for reelection to his seat within the normal elections that kicked off final week. India’s nationwide election is happening over about seven weeks, in phases, and is about to be the largest election ever held globally, with nearly 1 billion eligible voters.
A number of the video clips of the alleged sexual assaults involving the 33-year-old politician first leaked on-line simply days earlier than the polls opened in Revanna’s constituency.
Revanna has denied the allegations and filed a police grievance alleging that the movies are manipulated. Quickly after the movies leaked, two girls appeared on native information outlet Energy TV accusing Prajwal of sexual assault.
Individually, one other girl, a 47-year-old who’s labored on the politician’s house, filed a police case alleging that she too had been sexually abused by Revanna a number of occasions between 2019 and 2022 — and as soon as by his father HD Revanna.
The lady has additionally accused the youthful politician of behaving inappropriately on a video name together with her daughter, based on stories in Indian media.
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Karnataka police have registered a case towards Revanna on prices of sexual harassment, intimidation and outraging the dignity of a girl, and the state authorities has shaped a Particular Investigation Crew (SIT) to look into the allegations.
Revanna has not been questioned or detained, nevertheless, as he reportedly left India quickly after the leaked movies surfaced.
Prajwal’s father, who’s the chief of the JDS occasion and can be named within the police grievance, instructed journalists Monday that his son was touring however would come again to India if and when required for the investigation.
The prime minister’s occasion has sought to distance itself from the controversy swirling round its political allies, however an area BJP chief, Devaraje Gowda, has reportedly issued the beautiful declare that he warned BJP’s leaders in Karnataka state towards aligning with JDS a 12 months in the past, after receiving a “pen drive” he stated contained 2,976 express movies of ladies.
“We shall be tainted as a celebration that aligned with the household of a rapist,” Gowda warned in a letter to BJP’s chief within the state, based on the report by India’s NDTV.
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India’s essential opposition occasion, known as the Congress Occasion, held a protest in Bengaluru on Sunday and pointedly questioned the ruling BJP occasion’s determination to ally with JDS regardless of the obvious data of the movies.
“Why did the PM marketing campaign for and shared the stage with Prajwal Revanna regardless of realizing that Prajwal is the kingpin of the world’s greatest and murkiest intercourse abuse?” Congress chief Pawan Khera wrote in a social media submit.
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