Deveraje Gowda had contested against Prajwal Revanna's father, HD Revanna, in the 2023 Karnataka assembly election and lost.
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devaraje Gowda, who had exposed JDS MP Prajwal Revanna”s alleged sexual assault of hundreds of women, now finds himself entangled in a sexual assault case. He was arrested in Chitradurga on Friday.
This comes a day after a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against him by a 36-year-old woman from Holenarasipura, alleging sexual assault and blackmail. In a separate complaint, Gowda has also been accused of using casteist slurs against the complainant’s husband. The woman alleges that Gowda molested her promising help sell her property. While the complaint was filed on April 1, the FIR doesn’t specify dates when the incidents occurred.
Gowda, who contested against Prajwal Revanna”s father, HD Revanna, in the 2023 Karnataka assembly election and lost, had allegedly leaked the videos of the Hassan MP allegedly raping women. However, he blamed the Congress for leaking the videos.
Gowda had alerted the BJP leadership in Karnataka about Prajwal Revanna”s alleged sexual assault history, urging them to not give him a Lok Sabha ticket from Hassan. Despite this, the BJP, in coalition with the JDS at the time, fielded Prajwal. BJP state president BY Vijayendra denied receiving any letter from Gowda.
According to the complainant, her interaction with Gowda began around 10 months ago when she and her husband sought assistance in selling their land. She alleges that Gowda promised to help them build a house on another plot of land and told her that he would help her get a khata (document certifying ownership) for the plot if she agreed to his terms. The complaint alleges that Gowda took her to Hassan and sexually assaulted her and later at her home.
The complainant added a BJP office worker Veena allegedly contacted her seeking her address and bank account details. After this, two unidentified men intruded into her home, issuing threats followed by an attempted sexual assault. When the complainant received a call from Gowda threatening her to keep silent about these occurrences, she recorded the conversation and warned him that she would give it to the police.
Before the incident, Gowda had used casteist insults against him. The complaint further said that Gowda threatened that if the family went to the police, he would kill them. Gowda also boasted that he was somebody who went against the family of a former Prime Minister.
Devaraje has been booked under Sections 354 (A) (sexual assault), 354(C) (voyeurism), 448 (house trespassing), 504 (provocation), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 66E (violation of privacy) of the Information and Technology Act, 2000. For the complaint about using casteist slurs, he has been booked under Section 3(2) (va) of the SC/ST (PoA) Act.
Prajwal Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and a JDS leader, fled to Germany the day the videos surfaced. A blue corner notice has been issued against him through Interpol member states to locate him.
The sex scandal unfolded shortly after the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency elections on April 26. The 33-year-old politician can allegedly be seen sexually abusing women in some of the videos distributed via pendrives.
The Karnataka government immediately formed an SIT to probe the allegations. Three FIRs, including charges of rape, molestation, intimidation, blackmailing, and threatening, have been filed against him.
His father, HD Revanna, also an accused is currently in jail on charges of kidnapping a woman, a mother of three.
