Deve Gowda’s Grandson, Accused In Sex Scandal, To Return Within A Week, Says Lawyer

Janata Dal Secular leader Prajwal Revanna — accused of raping multiple women — will return within a week and cooperate with the investigation, his lawyer Arun G told NDTV in an exclusive interview today. The grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and the MP from family turf Hassan, has left the country after the videos surfaced on social media, triggering a huge row in the middle of the general election.

Asserting there was no rape, his  lawyer said he has not gone through the videos, which have prompted the state women’s commission chief Nagalakshmi Choudhary to call it the “biggest scandal of the country” After going through the videos, she had said they appeared to be of non-consensual sexual act.

“She’s holding a certain position and she has certain powers. She has certain duties… Let her do her job, and we will do our job,” Arun G told NDTV.

But there was a caveat. Drawing such an inference — “I feel it is incorrect,” he said.  “The other thing is that when she says that she has seen that, at least my client and myself, we do not have the benefit,” he added.

The lawyer said as of now, they have been given access to the First Information Report and will go through whatever evidence is made available to them.

The police case against Mr Revanna was filed on the complaint of a woman who claimed she had been abused for years by the MP and his father, HD Revanna.

The matter has also morphed into a huge political row, with the BJP in alliance with Mr Devegowda’s Janata Dal Secular in Karnataka.

The state leaders of the BJP have distanced themselves from the matter and the Hassan MP has been suspended by his party. His uncle and party chief HD Kumaraswamy has said there could be no question of forgiving anyone who has committed a crime.