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Suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader and joint BJP-JD(S) candidate Prajwal Revanna, arrested in connection with multiple allegations of sexual abuse, lost to Congress' Shreyas Gowda Reddy from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka.
As of 6:10 pm, the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) has won one seat and is leading in 19 others. The Congress is leading in 2 seats.
With Patel's victory, the Congress has got hold of the constituency after a gap of 25 years. In 1999, Shreyas Patel's grandfather G Puttaswamy Gowda defeated former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. Both families have been political rivals for nearly five decades.
After being on the run from the authorities, the MP was arrested at Bengaluru airport in the early hours of 31 May. In 2019, Revanna defeated the BJP's A Manju Hassan by a margin of 1.4 lakh votes. Back then, the JD(S) and BJP were not in alliance.
In the week leading to 26 April, multiple videos surfaced in Hassan of Revanna allegedly raping, sexually abusing and filming several women surfaced, sparking a row in Karnataka.
Hours after polling concluded, the 33-year-old fled to Germany on his diplomatic passport.
Soon after, three FIRs against Prajwal, based on complaints by survivors of the assault. His father HD Revanna, meanwhile, was arrested for 'kidnapping' a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Prajwal. He was later let out on bail.
The case against Prajwal Revanna had been registered under Sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354D (stalking), 506 (criminal intimidation), and 509 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In one of the FIRs accessed by The Quint, one of the survivors alleged:
This led to a huge political storm between the Congress and the BJP in Karnataka. The Congres questioned the BJP and the JD(S) about giving a ticket to Prajwal Revanna from Hassan, despite knowing about the videos.
Soon after, the JD(S) suspended and expelled Revanna, with former PM Deve Gowda saying, "His suspension is till the investigation is completed."
In May, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) moved to cancel the diplomatic passport of Revanna based on a request for the same by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah.
After evading arrest for a month, he returned from Germany last week and was subsequently arrested by a Special Investigation Team. After being produced before a magistrate court, he was sent to SIT custody for seven days.
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Published: 04 Jun 2024,03:50 PM IST