Janata Dal-Secular leader Suraj Revanna, the elder brother of Prajwal Revanna who is facing sex crimes allegations by multiple women, has been arrested allegedly for sexually assaulting a male party worker.
A case was filed against Suraj Revanna based on a complaint registered by the 27-year-old party worker who accused the JD(S) leader of sexually assaulting him at a farm house in Karnataka’s Hassan district on June 16.
Suraj Revanna, meanwhile, has refuted the charge and alleged that the man filed a false complaint against him after he refused to pay him Rs 5 crore.
Suraj Revanna’s friend Shivkumar had also yesterday filed a police complaint, alleging that the JD(S) worker had approached him earlier this month and demanded Rs 5 crore, threatening that he would file a sexual abuse case against Suraj Revanna if his demands were not met.
Shivkumar said that the man had first approached him to help him find a job. Shivkumar gave him Suraj Revanna’s number and asked him to contact Suraj. But he started blackmailing Shivkumar and Suraj after he failed to get the job, the complaint said.
Suraj’s arrest comes days after former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna was sent to judicial custody. The 33-year-old grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan parliamentary constituency in the recent polls.
The cases of sexual abuse came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls there on April 26.
JD(S) suspended him from the party following the cases filed against him. The BJP has distanced itself from Revanna and the investigation. Its state unit boss, S Prakash, said, “We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make…”
A police case has also been filed against his father, HD Revanna, for allegedly kidnapping a woman who said she had been raped by both men. The father, a former MLA and Public Works Department Minister, was given bail in the kidnapping case on May 14 and the sexual assault case after that.
