BENGALURU: “Secrets have a way of surfacing, unravelling the bonds of trust and revealing the true nature of relationships,” goes a popular saying in Kannada.
True to this adage, the sex video tapes implicating now-suspended Hassan JD(S) MP
Prajwal Revanna
stemmed from a falling out former PM H D Deve Gowda’s son
H D Revanna
’s family had with a trusted aide.
It all began to unfold in June 2023, when
Karthik
, a man who played multiple roles, including driver, personal secretary and accountant, for the Revanna family, decided to challenge the status quo.
The genesis of the issue? A land measuring 16 acres, nestled in the ancestral village of the Deve Gowda clan in Holenarsipura, the family stronghold represented by Revanna in the assembly.
The land bore the legal imprint of Karthik’s name, owing to income tax arrangements and the trust bestowed upon him by the family.
As tensions simmered and Karthik found himself sidelined, he lodged a complaint in Dec 2023, alleging he and his wife had been kidnapped by Prajwal and his mother after he refused to agree to hand over the land.
It was then that the floodgates burst open, shedding light on the dark secrets of the scion of the Deve Gowda lineage.
JD(S) insiders close to the family said that Karthik had access to Prajwal’s mobile phone, from which he allegedly shot those videos and initially shared them on his own phone for viewing. He decided to use them to blackmail the family when they turned against him.
After he was shunted out, Karthik approached advocate and BJP functionary G Devarajegowda, who had contested against Revanna in the 2023 assembly elections.
This prompted the Revanna family to seek a court order against 86 media outlets and three private individuals — one of them was Karthik — alleging a “threat of broadcasting, publishing and circulating fake news and manipulating media” against them.
Devarajegowda had alleged in a Jan press conference in Hassan that Prajwal had sought to silence him and the media fearing the release of obscene videos. He recently claimed to have gained access to the videos while representing Prajwal’s former driver in a case against the Revannas in Dec 2023.
However, Devarajegowda clarified that he played no part in leaking the tapes. He claimed that he refrained from releasing the videos due to concerns for the privacy and dignity of the victims.
Revanna’s political rivals in Hassan were not so sensitive, and enlisted the help of a senior Congress functionary, known for orchestrating the downfall of a BJP minister in a similar episode.
The videos were circulated through WhatsApp groups and distributed via hundreds of pen drives in Hassan a day before the constituency voted on April 26.
Karnataka govt formed an SIT, but this was a day after Prajwal departed for Frankfurt in Germany.
