The Karnataka High Court has extended the conditional interim anticipatory bail to Bhavani Revanna, mother of rape accused Prajwal Revanna, on June 14. The pre-arrest bail was granted on June 7 in connection with the kidnapping of a woman, who has accused Prajwal Revanna of raping her. Bhavani has been barred from entering Hassan and Mysuru, as per the court’s conditions.
Special Public Prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar argued that Bhavani was not cooperating with the probe, “her answers are evasive or false.” He said, “Bhavani Revanna is also an accused in the same kidnapping case and she is not cooperating with the probe. She is giving false answers to investigating authorities.” He also informed the court that Bhavani was in constant touch with the accused. “The investigation has revealed that she was the kingpin behind this abduction to prevent the filing of the complaint against her son,” he argued.
Senior counsel CV Nagesh, appearing for Bhavani, said that Bhavani had appeared before the investigating officer for three days and it was enough time to confront her about technical/digital records (a ground on which SIT has sought custody). “They did not do it,” he said, according to Bar and Bench,
Nagesh contended that the details about SIM cards could be found by approaching service providers and there was no need to detain Bhavani Revanna on this ground.
Justice Krishna S Dixit, presiding over the case, noted the necessity for deeper consideration of the submissions from both sides, stating, “Ordinarily, the court would have dictated judgement in open court itself. However, that course is not undertaken, since the matter requires deeper consideration in view of submissions made by both sides… anticipatory bail is continued till and subject to final decision that will be produced before long,” Live Law reported.
The arrest warrant against Bhavani Revanna issued earlier on June 7 by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate court was also stayed. The SIT had issued a notice to Bhavani to appear for questioning in relation to the kidnapping of a woman, who has filed a case of rape against Prajwal Revanna.
Meanwhile, the state government’s petition seeking cancellation of bail granted to JD(S) MLA and Bhavani’s husband HD Revanna in connection to kidnapping a woman allegedly raped by Prajwal, has been posted to next week.