Bengaluru, Jun 6: A court here on Thursday extended till June 10 the Special Investigation Team (SIT) custody of former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing charges of rape and sexual abuse against several women.
He was produced before the special court for elected Representatives which had on May 31 remanded him to SIT custody till June 6.
The 33-year-old grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former PM H D Deve Gowda had failed in his bid to retain the Hassan Lok Sabha seat in the recent polls.
The extension of custody was granted on Thursday, with the court acknowledging the need for further investigation. The SIT sought additional time to gather more evidence and interrogate the accused comprehensively.
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SIT officials arrested Revanna soon after he landed at Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport from Germany on May 31.
He had left for Germany on April 27, a day after Hassan went to the polls. A 'Blue Corner Notice' seeking information on his whereabouts had earlier been issued by the Interpol, following a request by the SIT via the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A Special Court for Elected Representatives issued an arrest warrant against Revanna on May 18, following an application moved by the SIT.
He was arrested in a case registered against him in Holenarasipura in Hassan district on April 28. He was accused of sexually harassing a 47-year-old former maid. He is listed as accused number two, while his father and MLA, H D Revanna, is the primary accused.
Prajwal Revanna has been booked in three cases of sexual assault. There are also charges of rape against him.
The cases of sexual abuse came to light after pen-drives containing explicit videos allegedly involving Prajwal Revanna were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls there on April 26.
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Bengaluru (PTI): Two men were arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting two minor girls, recording the acts on mobile phones and uploading the videos online as child sexual abuse material, police said on Thursday.
The accused have been identified as Kiran Kumar (29), hailing from Chitradurga district, and Aditya M K (20), hailing from Shivamogga district, they said.
A probe was initiated after information was received from the NCRP portal regarding a suspected instance of creation of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) for online dissemination, police said.
Accordingly, a case was registered at Kaggalipura Police Station under relevant sections of the IT Act on May 10, they added.
Investigation revealed that two minor girl victims were exploited and videos were created and uploaded to the internet. The child victims have subsequently recorded their statements as per procedure and further necessary legal steps have been taken, Pronab Mohanty Director General of Police, Cyber Command, said in a statement.
Based on the statements of the victims, the accused persons, who allegedly assaulted the minors, recorded the acts on mobile phones and uploaded the videos online, were arrested, he said.
Following the probe, sections 65(2) (rape) and 70 (gangrape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, along with relevant sections of the POCSO Act, have been added to the FIR, police said.
Officials collected relevant information and on May 12, arrested the accused persons and seized three mobile phones belonging to them, in which the videos had allegedly been recorded, he said.
The accused were later produced before the court and taken into police custody for further investigation, he added.
According to him, in CSAM cases, police usually apprehend offenders who have downloaded such content or have kept them in their possession after obtaining them from elsewhere, usually the internet.
"The present case is one of the very few instances where content creators and uploaders have been apprehended," Mohanty added.
