Prajwal Revanna’s brother Suraj arrested for alleged sexual harassment of JD(S) worker

Karnataka police have arrested Janata Dal (Secular) MP Suraj Revanna, brother of Prajwal Revanna, for allegedly sexually assaulting a party worker. The Indian Express on Sunday.

Prajwal Revanna, the former MP from Hassan Lok Sabha constituency, is currently in custody for allegedly raping several women. He was suspended from the Janata Dal (secular) on April 30th.

Suraj Revanna was arrested a day after he was accused of sexual harassment by 27-year-old Chethan KS, who works for the party’s youth wing.

The police had filed an initial report on the case on Saturday, citing the provisions of the Indian Penal Code on unnatural sexual intercourse (Section 377), criminal intimidation (Section 506), false imprisonment (Section 342) and malice aforesaid (Section 34).

Chethan’s police complaint had alleged that Suraj Revanna sexually assaulted him on June 16 at a farmhouse in Gannikada in Hassan district. India today Then, he claimed, Suraj Revanna’s associates tried to offer him money to keep quiet about the incident.

The complaint also alleged that Suraj Revanna had threatened to kill Chethan’s family, reported The Indian Express.

Suraj Revanna has denied the allegations and described them as politically motivated.

On the other hand, Chethan was also accused of extortion by Shivakumar, a close associate of Suraj Revanna. Shivakumar’s complaint alleges that Chethan tried to extort Rs 5 crore from Suraj Revanna by threatening to implicate him in a false sexual assault case.

Suraj Revanna’s arrest came days after a Bengaluru court remanded Prajwal Revanna in judicial custody on rape charges until June 24. The court issued the arrest warrant after the Karnataka Police Special Investigation Team, which was probing the case, did not seek further detention of Prajwal Revanna.

Prajwal Revanna was arrested on May 31 after he returned to Bengaluru from Germany, where he had fled on April 26.

Shortly after his departure for Germany, Prajwal Revanna and his father, former state minister HD Revanna, were charged with sexual harassment and criminal intimidation by the Karnataka Police. The first report was based on a complaint by a woman who had worked in the Revannas’ household for three and a half years.

This came soon after videos of sexual assaults on several women, allegedly shot by Prajwal Revanna himself, were widely circulated in his former constituency ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. So far, three women have filed complaints of rape or sexual harassment against Prajwal Revanna.