Former Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna has been convicted in the first of four rape cases filed against him in Karnataka’s Hassan district.
A special court in Bengaluru delivered the verdict on Friday, marking a dramatic turn in a high-profile case that sparked widespread political and public debate.
Revanna, 34, was found guilty of raping a former domestic worker at a farmhouse owned by his family. The charges included rape while in a position of control or dominance, sexual harassment, and criminal intimidation under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
The survivor, a middle-aged woman, filed her complaint on May 8 last year. She had been rescued from the farmhouse three days earlier, where she was allegedly held in confinement after appearing in leaked videos of sexual assault reportedly recorded by Revanna himself. These videos surfaced just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, causing public outrage and tarnishing Revanna’s political standing—he eventually lost his seat in Hassan.
Revanna was arrested on May 31, 2024, upon his return from Germany. The trial began on May 2, 2025, with the survivor’s statement and concluded with a 1,632-page chargesheet presented by the Karnataka Police’s Special Investigation Team, supported by forensic findings and testimonies from 113 witnesses.
The court will announce Revanna’s sentence on Saturday.
