JD(S) MLA Revanna remanded to judicial custody till May 14 in woman kidnap case

Bengaluru: Karnataka JD(S) MLA and former Minister H D Revanna, who is facing kidnapping charges, was remanded to judicial custody till May 14 by a Magisterial court here on Wednesday.

Also, his bail petition before a sessions court has been posted for Thursday.

After the completion of four days of police custody, the 66-year-old Revanna, son of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, was produced before an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate. .

The court remanded him to judicial custody for seven days till May 14.

Revanna was in the custody of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) after being arrested in the alleged case of kidnapping a woman, based on a complaint by her son, who also charged that the MLA’s son and MP Prajwal Revanna had sexually assaulted her. The woman was subsequently rescued, according to police.

The sexual abuse allegations involving Prajwal raised a political storm with the ruling Congress and BJP-JD(S) engaged in a slugfest.

While the Congress government has formed a SIT to probe the cases, the BJP and JD(S) — NDA partners — have demanded that it be handed over to the CBI.

Alleged explicit videos involving Prajwal started making the rounds ahead of the first phase of Lok Sabha elections in Karnataka on April 26.

The Chairperson of Karnataka State Commission for Women Chairperson Dr Nagalakshmi Chaudhary wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state police chief Alok Mohan seeking a probe into the videos that were in circulation in Hassan, following which the Congress government formed the SIT on April 28 to investigate the case.

Prajwal, who contested as the NDA candidate in the polls from Hassan, reportedly left the country on April 27, a day after the polls. He has skipped summons issued by the SIT to appear before it.