Former Minister and Holenarsipur Janata Dal (S) MLA H.D. Revanna, 66, who is facing abduction charges, was arrested from the house of his father and former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda at Padmanabhanagar in South Bengaluru on Saturday evening amid high drama.
The arrest came minutes after his anticipatory bail plea was rejected by the Special Court for Elected Representatives, Bengaluru, in an abduction case, where an alleged sexual abuse victim of his son and “absconding” MP Prajwal Revanna was allegedly taken away by force on April 29 was since then not traceable. Meanwhile the MP, said to be abroad, is still to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT).
Hours before Mr. Revanna’s arrest, the abducted woman was rescued from captivity by SIT. She was allegedly held captive at the farmhouse of one Rajagopal, a close associate of Mr. Revanna, at Kalenahalli in Hunsur taluk of Mysuru district. The aide has also been detained.
Sources said the victim was traumatised and was “not in a position to speak” yet. Her statement to SIT would likely lead to another rape case being registered against Mr. Prajwal Revanna.
At father’s place
Minutes after the court turned down Mr. Revanna’s bail plea on Saturday evening, high drama ensued at Mr. Gowda’s residence as a SIT team, which had intelligence that the former Minister was there for the past two days, came knocking on the doors of the former Prime Minister’s house. The SIT team was armed with a search warrant, sources said.
However, the SIT team was made to stand outside and the doors were not opened for over 20 minutes. Eventually, Mr. Revanna himself opened the door of the house and walked out and gave himself up, amid a host of press cameras. Mr. Gowda was also in the house even as the drama ensued outside, sources said.
The abduction case against Mr. Revanna was registered against him at K. R. Nagar police station, Mysuru district, on May 2.
A victim of sexual abuse, a former maid at their house, was allegedly abducted on the night of April 29, at the behest of Mr. Revanna, to prevent her from testifying against his son.
The victim’s son had lodged a complaint with K. R. Nagar police based on which an FIR was registered against Mr. Revanna and his close associate Satish Babu, who was arrested on Friday.
How the leads came
Satish Babu’s arrest gave SIT some leads on the victim’s whereabouts. Special teams of police officials had been on a manhunt from May 2 in Mysuru, Mandya, Hassan, and Chikkamagaluru districts.
The SIT team had missed the woman by two hours on Friday night and she was said to have been put in a car and constantly moved on Saturday, when it was speculated that a video of her statement would be circulated by the accused or that she would be brought before the media, to claim she was not kidnapped. However, she was rescued from captivity in time, sources said.
