The Special Investigation Team (SIT) has submitted the chargesheet in the case involving the leak of the videos, which eventually led to the filing of sexual assault complaints against former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.
The SIT submitted the 13,712-page chargesheet to the Second Additional Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class Court in Hassan district on February 19, TV9 Kannada reported.
The chargesheet names 52 people but says that charges have been filed against 39 people. This includes Naveen Kumar NR, Prajwal Revanna’s driver Karthik N, Chetan BC, Chetan YS, Likhit Gowda / Likhit HP, and advocate G Devarajegowda.
Allegations of sexual assault against Prajwal Revanna shocked the country and triggered massive protests against him in Karnataka. Five filed complaints, accusing Prajwal Revanna of rape and sexual assault. On August 1, he was convicted of raping Mridula (name changed), a woman who worked on the Revanna family’s farm in Gannikada.
Who leaked the videos?
In the middle of April 2024, days before the Hassan Lok Sabha seat was to go to polls on April 26, 2024, videos of sexually explicit videos and images of Prajwal Revanna with several women began circulating on social media.
Activists in Hassan had previously told TNM that it was only when they watched the videos that they realised that many of them were likely of sexual assault and abuse. Until then, they said, the videos were being shared and talked about as yet another ‘sex scandal’ involving politicians in Karnataka.
The Karnataka Rajya Mahila Dourjanya Virodhi Vedike wrote to the Karnataka State Women’s Commission on April 24, alleging that pen drives containing videos of numerous women coerced into sex by a politician had been circulating across Hassan district.
The Women’s Commission wrote to the chief minister and the state police chief urging them to form a Special Investigation Team to investigate the allegations.
However, an advocate named Poornachandra Tejaswi had already filed a complaint with the Hassan CEN police station on April 23, alleging that morphed videos of Prajwal Revanna had been leaked.
Poornachandra alleged that morphed images of Prajwal Revanna were leaked on April 21 by a man named Naveen Gowda and others. He sought action against those who had spread these videos through pen drives, CDs and on WhatsApp. The FIR was registered under Section 67A (electronic transmission of sexually explicit content) of the Information Technology Act and Section 171G (false declaration in connection with an election) of the Indian Penal Code (now replaced by the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita).
Poornachandra Tejaswi, an advocate and Janata Dal (Secular) member, told TV9 Kannada that he felt that the people who masterminded the conspiracy had been left out. “I think they have left out influential people. The main kingpin (who leaked the videos) should have been there. Everybody knows which party’s workers were involved, which party’s workers distributed the pen drives, and which leader’s followers they were,” he said.
He also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office computer operators and Congress workers were among the accused.
In an interview with TV9 Kannada, he also claimed that state Congress chief DK Shivakumar was behind the leak of the videos.