BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court has refused to suspend the sentence imposed on former MP Prajwal Revanna in the rape case, considering the arguments of the prosecution that there are chances of tampering with witnesses of other rape cases pending against him if the sentence is suspended.
A division bench of Justice KS Mudagal and Justice Venkatesh Naik T rejected the application filed by Prajwal seeking suspension of the life sentence imposed on him by a special court in the case registered with Holenarasipura police station by his former maid servant.
Considering the material on record, the gravity of the offence and the effect on other pending cases against Prajwal, the court said that this is not a fit case for granting suspension of sentence and bail. The court also noted that multiple cases were filed against Prajwal over sexual abuse, and bail was not granted to him during the course of the trial of the case in which he was sentenced.
The other cases are still pending trial. Therefore, there is force in the submission of the special public prosecutor that the witnesses in other cases are likely to be tampered with if the sentence is suspended, the court added.
The senior counsel argued on behalf of Prajwal that the case against the accused is shaky and the linkage of evidence is not made out and hence he should not be kept in custody.