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.

Prayagraj:

The Allahabad High Court on Saturday granted bail to former MP Dhananjay Singh but refused his plea to suspend or stay a seven-year imprisonment sentence passed by a district court in a 2020 kidnapping and extortion case.

After the high court order, Mr Singh will be released on bail, but he cannot contest the election.

The MP-MLA court in Jaunpur on March 6, sentenced Mr Singh and his associate Santosh Vikram to seven years of rigorous imprisonment in a 2020 case of the kidnapping and extortion of Namami Gange project manager Abhinav Singhal.

After hearing the criminal appeal filed by the former MP and his associate on April 24, Justice Sanjay Kumar Singh had reserved the order.

This appeal was filed against the judgment passed by the special judge, Jaunpur MP/MLA on March 6.

Mr Singh’s wife Srikala Reddy is contesting elections from the Jaunpur parliamentary constituency on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket. Mr Singh was reportedly preparing to contest the Lok Sabha elections from Jaunpur seat but his conviction made him ineligible to contest the election.

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

Rampur (UP):

Students from a private school protested outside a police station here alleging that a policeman slapped the mother of a former schoolmate and pressured her to withdraw a case of kidnapping and harassing of her daughter.

Taking note of the incident, the district administration has removed a Circle Officer, Station House Officer of Milak Police Station along with two constables while the accused outpost in charge has been suspended, officials said.

The agitation near the police station caused a massive traffic jam.

The mother of the 12-year-old girl alleged some policemen, including outpost in-charge Ashok Kumar, reached her house on Tuesday and manhandled her and her daughter.

“He (policeman) slapped me two-three times and my clothes got torn,” she said, adding that their family was being pressured to withdraw the case.

Additional Superintendent of Police, Sansar Singh said that the woman on Tuesday registered a case against two teenagers under IPC sections 354 (criminal force with intent to outrage modesty) and 363 (kidnapping) after the accused allegedly took her daughter forcibly on their bike.

He said that both the accused have been detained and a detailed probe is on in the matter.

“We have removed the SHO, Circle Officer, and two constables while the police outpost in charge Ashok Kumar has been suspended,” he said.

The additional district magistrate will probe the matter and if it is found that the woman was manhandled, FIRs will be registered against the guilty, he said.

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