From Prajwal’s court case to suspension: How Hassan pen drive scandal unfolded

Amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, sexual harassment allegations against Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda, has set Karnataka on fire.

The series of quick events, in what has come to be known as the “Hassan pen drive scandal” in popular parlance, cropped up right before the first phase of election in Karnataka on April 26, when Hassan also voted. Prajwal is contesting the seat again as an NDA candidate. 

However, the genesis of the incident dates back to last year. Here is a brief account of how the “Hassan pen drive scandal” has unfolded.

Initial lawsuit and gag order: June 2023

One of the earliest public references to the sex videos was made by none other than Prajwal Revanna himself, in June last year. That month, 33-year-old Prajwal took legal action against 86 media outlets and three private individuals, says an Indian Express report. Prajwal sought a gag order from a Bengaluru civil court to prevent the dissemination of what he termed “fake news” and “morphed photographs/videos.”

The court on June 2 granted Prajwal an injunction, acknowledging the threat posed by broadcasting, publishing, and circulating such “fake” and “morphed” content against him.

Interestingly, one of the defendants in the case was Prajwal’s former driver, Kartik, who had worked for him for over seven years and allegedly had access to the MP’s cellphones and other electronic devices. The driver later filed a police complaint, claiming that Prajwal had got him and his wife kidnapped for not handing over 13 acres of land.

BJP leader’s letter: January 2024

In January this year, a lawyer and local-level BJP leader, G Devaraje Gowda, raked up the sex tapes and the court order all over again at a press conference in Hassan. Gowda had contested the Holenarasipura seat in the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections and lost to Prajwal’s father HD Revanna, Deve Gowda’s son.

Gowda claimed he had written to state BJP president BY Vijayendra in December 2023 about the sex videos, which he accessed through Prajwal’s former driver, whom he had represented in court, says The Indian Express report. He claimed the videos featured women, including government officials, involved in obscene acts, but he did not release those out of respect for these women.

The lawyer claimed the pen drive contained 2,976 video clips, which were allegedly used to blackmail the women into continuing to engage in sexual acts. Gowda claimed these videos had already reached the Congress top brass and feared these could be used as a “Brahmastra” by the Opposition in the polls and warned the BJP against forming an alliance with the JD(S).

Sex videos surface: April 23-25

Only three days before the April 26 polls in Hassan, the sex videos, purportedly featuring Prajwal and recorded by him, surfaced online. By April 25, hundreds of pen drives containing the obscene clips cropped up in Hassan as well. The videos allegedly show Prajwal raping scores of women from different walks of life, including actresses and ordinary housewives. Most of the clips were reportedly shot in Hassan or Holenarasipura. Many were allegedly shot in Prajwal’s house and office.

On April 25 itself, the Karnataka State Commission for Women wrote to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah demanding a SIT (Special Investigation Team) probe into the scandal. Meanwhile, Poornachandra Tejaswi MG, the election agent of the JD(S) and the BJP, also filed an FIR at CEN (Cybercrime, Economic offences, Narcotics) in Hassan district, complaining that morphed videos of the sitting MP of Hassan, Prajwal Revanna, were being widely circulated online.

Prajwal flees; CM orders SIT probe; woman lodges complaint: April 28

Finally, on April 27 night, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced that he would form a SIT to investigate the case. However, on April 28, it emerged that Prajwal had likely “fled” to Germany just before the CM’s announcement, prompting furious social organisations to question how the government could allow him to escape.

HD Revanna, however, claimed that Prajwal had not run away but gone on a pre-planned tour and that he would return to India and face the probe. He also claimed that the videos were “four to five years old”.

Also on April 28, a woman from Holenarsipura town lodged a police complaint, accusing Prajwal and his father, HD Revanna, of sexual harassment. According to her complaint, the abuse took place from 2019 to 2022.

The complainant, who claimed to be a relative of Revanna’s wife Bhavani, alleged that four months after she started working as a house help for the family in 2019, Revanna and Prajwal started sexually harassing her. She also alleged that Prajwal would make video calls to her daughter and have “vulgar conversations” with her. She further alleged that she and her family members faced a threat to their lives. Based on the complaint, the police registered anFIR.

Prajwal’s suspension from JD(S): April 29

The JD(S) suspended Prajwal on April 30, a day after party leader and his uncle HD Kumaraswamy said the party had taken the decision to do so over the sex videos.