BENGALURU : Beleagueed JD(S) lawmaker H D Revanna was on Friday arrested by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in a kidnap case after a court rejected his anticipatory bail petition.
The SIT picked up Revanna from his father and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda’s house here.
He was whisked away in a SUV and brought to the SIT’s office in Palace Road. The arrest happened after Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat refused to grant him interim anticipatory bail after hearing arguments by senior counsel Murthy D Naik representing Revanna and Special Public Prosecutor B N Jagadeesha.
Two FIRs have been registered against Revanna. The first is based on a complaint of sexual harassment filed by one of the victims in Hassan district on April 28. The second FIR was filed following a kidnap complaint lodged on May 2 by another victim’s 20-year-old son in Mysuru district.
Revanna has been arrested in the Mysuru case. Revanna’s confidant Satish Babanna is already under custody.
SIT officers were trailing Revanna for four days. They had kept a hawk’s eye on him to ensure he did not escape anywhere considering that his son and party MP Prajwal scooted to Germany using a diplomatic passport this week.
Officials had to wait for 45 minutes outside Deva Gowda’s residence before arresting Revanna as the doors were shut. Finally, Revanna emerged from the house and was taken into custody.
The entire drama outside Deve Gowda’s house was videographed by the SIT. The operation was supervised by Superintendent of Police Suman D Pennekar, one of the two women IPS officers who are part of the SIT formed to probe the rape, kidnap, sexual harassment cases against Revanna and Prajwal.
Revanna was charged under Section 364(a) (kidnapping for ransom), 365 (kidnapping or abducting with intent secretly and wrongfully to confine person) and 34 (the acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
