Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, May 5: The former prime minister HD Deve Gowda’s son HD Revanna, a former Karnataka minister and currently Holenarsipur Janata Dal (S) MLA, 66, who is facing abduction charges, was arrested from the house of his father on Sunday while a blue corner notice has been issued against his son Prajwal Revanna, who is believed to be away in Germany. The arrest of Revanna from Mr Deve Gowda’s residence at Padmanabhanagar in South Bengaluru on Saturday evening amid high drama came minutes after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Special Court for Elected Representatives, Bengaluru, in an abduction case, where an alleged sexual abuse victim of his son and “absconding” MP Prajwal Revanna was allegedly taken away by force on April 29 was since then not traceable.
Hours before Mr Revanna’s arrest, the abducted woman was rescued from captivity by SIT. She was allegedly held captive at the farmhouse of one Rajagopal, a close associate of Mr Revanna, at Kalenahalli in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru district. The aide has also been detained. Sources said the victim was traumatised and was “not in a position to speak” yet. Her statement to SIT would likely lead to another rape case being registered against Mr Prajwal Revanna.
Minutes after the court turned down Mr Revanna’s bail plea on Saturday evening, high drama ensued at Mr Gowda’s residence as a SIT team, which had intelligence that the former Minister was there for the past two days, came knocking on the doors of the former Prime Minister’s house. The SIT team was armed with a search warrant, sources said.
However, the SIT team was made to stand outside and the doors were not opened for over 20 minutes. Eventually, Mr Revanna himself opened the door of the house and walked out and gave himself up, amid a host of press cameras. Mr Gowda was also in the house even as the drama ensued outside, sources said.
The abduction case against Mr Revanna was registered against him at K. R. Nagar police station, Mysuru district, on May 2. A victim of sexual abuse, a former maid at their house, was allegedly abducted on the night of April 29, at the behest of Mr Revanna, to prevent her from testifying against his son.
The victim’s son had lodged a complaint with K. R. Nagar police based on which an FIR was registered against Mr Revanna and his close associate Satish Babu, who was arrested on Friday. Satish Babu’s arrest gave SIT some leads on the victim’s whereabouts. Special teams of police officials had been on a manhunt from May 2 in Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, and Chikkamagaluru districts.
The SIT team had missed the woman by two hours on Friday night and she was said to have been put in a car and constantly moved on Saturday, when it was speculated that a video of her statement would be circulated by the accused or that she would be brought before the media, to claim she was not kidnapped. However, she was rescued from captivity in time, sources said.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka police said a Blue Corner Notice had been issued against the Hassan MP and Mr Revanna’s son Prajwal Revanna, who is facing sexual abuse cases, said state home minister G Parameshwara said on Sunday. Prajwal Revanna is claimed to be in Germany.
“Already Blue Corner notice has been issued. The Interpol will inform all the countries and locate him,” Mr Parameshwara told reporters. The minister said the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed to probe the sex scandal will decide on how to bring Prajwal back.
A Blue Corner Notice is a part of Interpol’s colour-coded notices that enable countries to share alerts and requests for information worldwide. They are international requests for cooperation or alerts allowing police in member countries to share critical crime-related information. Of the seven coloured notices, a blue notice is served to collect additional information about a person’s identity, location or activities in relation to a criminal investigation.
The SIT had earlier sent a request to the CBI, the nodal body for Interpol matters in India, seeking a Blue Corner Notice against him. In this case, the notice would help further the investigating agencies’ inquiries.
Prajwal, who is seeking re-election from Hassan, is said to have flown abroad on April 27, a day after his constituency went to the polls in the second phase of Lok Sabha polling. His advocate had sought for seven days’ time for him to appear before the SIT, to which the investigating team has replied it is not possible as there is no such provision.
The Karnataka government constituted the SIT to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP after explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old started making the rounds in Hassan recently. This was followed by a police case against Mr Revanna on the complaint of a woman who claimed she had been abused for years by the MP and his father, HD Revanna. Prajwal Revanna’s lawyer has denied any wrongdoing.
