The special court had earlier rejected the anticipatory bail plea of ​​Prajwal Revanna’s mother Bhavani Revanna in the kidnapping case on May 31 and an arrest warrant was issued by a magistrate’s court for her arrest.

Bhavani Revanna, who subsequently approached the Karnataka high court for interim bail, was told by the High Court on June 7 to co-operate with the investigations by the SIT for seven days.

Earlier on May 4, the SIT had arrested Prajwal Revanna’s father and JDS MLA from Holenarasipura, HD Revanna, in the kidnapping case. He was released on bail on May 13 after the special court observed that there was no evidence to directly link HD Revanna to the kidnapping.

In the kidnap case registered with the KR Nagar police station, the son of a woman who was a worker in the home of the Revannas around five years ago, has alleged that his mother was taken away by associates of the MLA after she was recognized as one of the victims of sexual assault by Prajwal Revanna, ahead of the Hassan Lok Sabha poll in April.

A case of rape was filed against Prajwal Revanna after the victim was found by the SIT. The rape case against Prajwal Revanna was registered by the SIT on the basis of a statement given by the woman about her ordeal while she was employed by the Revannas a few years earlier.

The investigations in the kidnap case have so far revealed that Prajwal Revanna’s mother was prima facie involved in the kidnap of the rape victim along with others in an effort at preventing the victim from speaking to the police about the sexual assault incident.

While rejecting the anticipatory bail order of Bhavani Revanna on May 31, the special court for cases against elected representatives observed that statements of the victim, witnesses and of the sister of the victim corroborate the prosecution’s argument that Bhavani Revanna “had played a specific overt act ” in the kidnapping episode”.

Bhavani Revanna and several others, including HD Revanna, are accused under the serious kidnapping section of 364 A of the Indian Penal Code which attracts life imprisonment.

The SIT has argued in court that there is evidence to show that Bhavani Revanna was in constant contact with the arrested Sathish Babanna (her nephew) and with another accused person Rajagopal in whose house the victim was confined after the alleged kidnapping.

The SIT has told the court that data retrieved from the phone of Rajagopal had revealed auto-recorded conversations regarding the confinement of the victim at a farmhouse after the sex videos of Prajwal Revanna emerged in the public domain ahead of the April 26 Lok Sabha polls in Hassan. The videos revealed instances of sexual assault by the MP.

The SIT told the court that the victim had been taken to Bhavani Revanna during the course of the alleged kidnapping and confinement. The victim in a statement revealed that Prajwal Revanna’s mother abused her and refused to provide clothes after she was taken away.

“It is also relevant to note that the victim herself has given a statement under Sec.164 of Cr.PC, before the learned Magistrate that she was detained in the house of accused No.7 Rajagopal,” the court observed in its order for denial of anticipatory bail for Bhavani Revanna.

“Though the victim is traced, as rightly argued by the learned SPP the present case is only the tip of an iceberg wherein it is contended that there are several victims who would not come forward to lodge a complaint if threat or apprehension is hanging upon them ,” the court said.

Prajwal Revanna who left the country after his sex videos appeared in the public domain around the April 26 Lok Sabha polls in Hassan returned to India on May 31 and was arrested by the SIT at the Bengaluru International Airport.

The SIT has registered three cases of sexual assault against Prajwal Revanna on the basis of evidence found in the alleged sex videos and after tracing the victims found in the videos.

The SIT has told the special court that the woman who was allegedly kidnapped on the instructions of the Revannas on April 29, after the leak of pen drives with explicit videos, was a victim of sexual assault by Prajwal Revanna.

She had worked for six years at the home of the accused and she was forcibly taken away on April 29 from her home by the MLA’s associates on the orders of the MLA, the SIT argued.

The SIT has challenged the bail granted to HD Revanna in the Karnataka High Court while Revanna himself has filed a petition for quashing the kidnapping case against him.