Deve Gowda’s Grandson Faces Sexual Harassment Allegations Amid Video Scandal

The First Information Report (FIR) has been filed with Holenarasipur police station in Hassan district. Prajwal Revanna, the Janata Dal (Secular) MP and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, has denied the allegations and filed a police complaint too, saying the obscene videos in circulation were morphed. Prajwal Revanna left for Germany yesterday morning. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah yesterday said the state government will form a special investigation team (SIT) to look into the obscene videos case.

The decision to set up the SIT came after the state women’s commission recommended the Siddaramaiah government to take action. Obscene video clips are circulating in Hassan district, where it appears that women have been sexually assaulted, the Chief Minister said. In the FIR, the survivor alleged she was sexually abused multiple times between 2019 and 2022. The complaint will be sent to the new SIT.

More women are likely to come forward to file cases, sources said. Prajwal Revanna was the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate in the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, where voting was held in the second phase on April 26. Janata Dal (Secular), or JD(S), joined the NDA in September last year. The BJP has distanced itself from Prajwal Revanna amid the controversy around his purported sex tapes.

“We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make on the SIT probe announced by the state government into the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal Revanna,” BJP state spokesperson S Prakash said.