File photo of G Devaraje Gowda
BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda, who had flagged JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna's alleged sexual abuse of several women, was late Friday taken into custody in connection with a sexual assault case.
He was taken into custody while he was traveling from Bengaluru toward Chitradurga, police said.
A case of sexual harassment was registered against Devaraje Gowda on a complaint by a 36-year-old woman, who alleged that he molested her on the pretext of helping her sell her property.
Gowda, who contested the 2023 Karnataka assembly election against Prajwal's father and Holenarasipura MLA HD Revanna, is also accused of leaking videos of Prajwal Revanna's alleged sexual abuse of several women. He, however, has blamed the Congress for leaking the videos.
Gowda had alerted the BJP leadership last year about Prajwal Revanna's alleged sexual abuse and asked the party not to give a Lok Sabha ticket to the JD(S) leader from Hassan. The BJP, which formed an alliance with the JD(S) last year, however, decided to field Prajwal from Hassan.
The sex scandal had come to the fore a day after the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency went to the polls on April 26. Videos began doing the rounds showing multiple women being sexually assaulted. The 33-year-old politician can also allegedly be seen sexually abusing women in some of the videos.
Prajwal Revanna, who is the grandson of former prime minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, left for Germany the day the videos emerged, and was later suspended by the JD(S). A blue corner notice, which asks Interpol member states to help locate a person, has been issued against him.
Three FIRs, including charges of rape, molestation, intimidation, blackmailing, and threatening, have been registered against him.
His father, HD Revanna, is currently in jail on charges of kidnapping a woman, a mother of three.