New Delhi:

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to set aside the anticipatory bail given to Bhavani Revanna, the mother of suspended JD(S) leader and rape accused Prajwal Revanna, in a kidnapping case while dismissing the Karnataka government’s plea.

In a setback to the Karnataka government, a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan took into account that the chargesheet had been filed in the case and refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court order.

During the hearing, the state government counsel claimed the mother was directly involved in allegedly procuring women for her son.

The apex court noted that the principal accused in the case had been arrested and put under custodial interrogation.

After the Karnataka government sought the cancellation of the anticipatory bail to Bhavani, the top court on July 10, refused to set it aside and sought her response.

The high court had on June 18 granted anticipatory bail to Bhavani emphasising she had already answered 85 questions during the investigation, making it unfair to claim she was not cooperating with the special investigation team (SIT) probing the alleged sexual abuse cases against her son.

The SIT had sought her custody in connection with the purported kidnapping of a house-help in K R Nagar in Mysuru district after she failed to appear for questioning.

The high court while granting the pre-arrest bail said media trials should be avoided and highlighted the state’s allegations of non-cooperation were unconvincing since Bhavani had already provided extensive responses during her interrogation.

The court dismissed the SIT’s argument that she had given misleading answers.

On June 7, with the reprieve, the high court prevented Bhavani from entering Mysuru and Hassan districts while extending the embargo on June 14.

The court had permitted the SIT to take her to Hassan and Mysuru districts for investigation.

Bhavani is accused of trying to prevent the survivor, who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her son, from filing a complaint.

Prajwal is currently in judicial custody at Parappana Agrahara Jail for allegedly sexually abusing several women and video-recording the alleged crime.

The cases of sexual abuse came to light after pen drives containing his alleged videos were reportedly circulated in Hassan ahead of the Lok Sabha polls on April 26.

SIT officials arrested Prajwal soon after he landed at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport from Germany on May 31. He had left for Germany on April 27, a day after polls in Hassan.

A “blue corner notice” seeking information about his whereabouts was issued by Interpol, following a request by the SIT via the Central Bureau of Investigation. 

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

Bhavani Revanna, the mother of Karnataka lawmaker Prajwal Revanna – who fled to Germany last month shortly after allegations of sex crimes, has applied for anticipatory bail under the Code of Criminal Procedure in a kidnapping case in which her husband was earlier arrested.

Her husband – Karnataka MLA HD Revanna – was arrested earlier this month for allegedly kidnapping a domestic help on April 29.

The woman allegedly kidnapped by HD Revanna used to work in their home and was allegedly raped by his son, Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.

The woman’s son filed an FIR against Mr Revanna, 66, based on which he was arrested.

HD Revanna, the son of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, was subsequently sent to the custody of the Special Investigation Team, or SIT, which is probing the allegations of sex crimes against his son, and later remanded in judicial custody.

He was released on bail by a local court on May 14.

Today, Prajwal Revanna released a statement saying he would surrender before the police on Friday. In the statement, he blamed the Opposition for ‘pushing him into isolation’.

The comments and “political drama” by Opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, “drove me to depression and I was pushed into isolation”, he said.

“I apologise to my parents… I was in depression. I will come (back to India) and appear before the SIT (a special investigative team set up by the state government) on May 31 (Friday),” he said.

“I will cooperate to the best of my abilities and provide all answers. I have full faith in the legal system (and) I will come out of these false cases against me. I have the blessings of God and my family…”

His first public comment on charges against him came after a warning from his grandfather HD Deve Gowda, who asked him to return home and surrender “or face your family’s anger”.

In a post on X, Deve Gowda said he warned Prajwal Revanna to “return immediately from wherever he is and subject himself to the legal process”. Mr Deve Gowda told his grandson to “not test my patience any further,” the former PM wrote on X.

Prjwal Revanna’s uncle, HD Kumaraswamy, has also appealed to his nephew to “come back”. “I have openly appealed to him… told him, ‘if you have respect for the party and Deve Gowda, come back…’ Cooperate with the probe. If you have not done anything prove it. If you have, then face the punishment,” Revanna was told, Mr Kumaraswamy said.

Prajwal Revanna is the sitting MP from Karnataka’s Hassan, which he has been nominated to defend in the ongoing elections. The JDS is allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.