Who is Prajwal Revanna, JD(S) leader and H D Deve Gowda's grandson allegedly involved in Hassan sex scandal?

Prajwal is seeking re-election from the Hassan seat as the joint candidate of the BJP-JD(S) alliance, while Congress has named 31-year-old Shreyas M Patel, the grandson of Puttaswamy Gowda.

The Karnataka government has decided to form a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe an alleged sex scandal involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.

“The government has decided to form an SIT in connection with the case of Prajwal Revanna’s explicit videos,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement.

“Explicit video clips are being circulated in Hassan and it appears prime facie that women were sexually assaulted (forced),” Siddaramaiah said.

Meanwhile, members of the women’s wing of the Congress on Sunday staged a protest against Revanna as many sex videos allegedly featuring him with multiple women have been doing the rounds in recent days.

Who is Prajwal Revanna?

• 33-year-old Prajwal is the grandson of JD(S) supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda.

• He graduated as a mechanical engineer from Bangalore Institute of Technology in the 2014.

• In the 2019 Lok Sabha election in Hassan, Prajwal defeated BJP’s A Manju with a margin of over 1.40 lakh votes.

• In November 27, 2019 he became the state General Secretary of Janata Dal (Secular).

• He is seeking re-election from the seat as the joint candidate of the BJP-JD(S) alliance, while Congress has named 31-year-old Shreyas M Patel, the grandson of Puttaswamy Gowda.

• Prajwal Revanna is the lone JD(S) MP in Karnataka who has been renominated from Hassan Lok Sabha seat.

• He has declared assets worth Rs 40.85 crore, which is a four-fold increase from 2019, according to his election affidavit.

• His father H D Revanna who is Deve Gowda's elder son and former minister is MLA from Holenarsipura and his mother Bhavani Revanna

  was a member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. His brother Suraj Revanna is an MLC.

On April 25, Commission chairperson Dr Nagalakshmi Chaudhary wrote to Siddaramaiah and state police chief Alok Mohan seeking a special probe on sex videos that have gone viral in Hassan.

Ahead of polling in Hassan on April 26, Prajwal, through his election agent, lodged a complaint with the authorities that doctored videos are being circulated to tarnish his image.

Meanwhile, the police have information that Prajwal has left the country, according the chief minister’s office.

(Wit PTI, DHNS inputs)