Supreme Court refuses to set aside anticipatory bail given to Bhavani Revanna in kidnapping case
Bhavani has been accused of conspiring to abduct a former house help, to prevent her from giving statements against her son Prajwal Revanna.
The Supreme Court on Friday refused to set aside the anticipatory bail given to Bhavani Revanna, the mother of suspended JD(S) leader and rape accused Prajwal Revanna, in a kidnapping case.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan refused to interfere with the Karnataka High Court order and junked the plea filed by the state government.
Bhavani has been accused of conspiring to abduct a former house help, who is an alleged victim of sexual abuse, to prevent her from giving statements against her son and former MP of Hassan, Prajwal Revanna.
(Also Read: Bhavani Revanna receives pre-trial bail until June 10)
Special public prosecutor Ravivarma Kumar earlier claimed that Bhavani was the ‘mastermind’ of the entire kidnap episode and that even though the SIT secured a non-bailable warrant, she had failed to appear before the investigating officer, as per an assurance given by her in a letter to the SIT.
The Karnataka government formed an SIT to probe the cases against Prajwal on the recommendation of the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary, who wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to investigate the matter. On May 31, the former Hassan MP was arrested at Bengaluru airport after he returned from a month-long stay in Germany.
Explicit videos allegedly showing Prajwal sexually abusing multiple women surfaced, leading to his arrest and subsequent custody until June 6. The case took a dramatic turn when the son of one of the victims from KR Nagar lodged a complaint, claiming that his mother had been kidnapped after being identified in one of the videos where she was seen tied and raped by Prajwal.
The complainant’s statements led to the registration of the kidnapping case, implicating H D Revanna, who is currently out on bail. According to officials in the know of the development, Bhavani could be arrested on Saturday.
(Also Read: Bhavani Revanna not present for SIT questioning at home)