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Bengaluru: In a shocking revelation, a former member of Hassan Zilla Panchayat (ZP) has accused incumbent JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna of raping her multiple times over three years and videographing the alleged crime.

A case was registered by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) based on the statement by the 44-year-old survivor on Wednesday, May 1.

According to the First Information Report (FIR), the woman claimed that when she was a ZP member she used to visit the MLAs and MPs for various development works.

In one such instance in 2021, she met Prajwal seeking his help to get hostel seats for some female students at a local college. The woman, in her statement, said that since the MP was busy, she was asked to meet him the next day.

“The following day I visited the MP at his office and the MP's quarters in Hassan. The staff present there told me to wait on the first floor as there were many others in the hall. Prajwal spoke to some of the women waiting there, spoke with them and sent them off until I was the only one left,” the woman alleged.

As per the survivor, the MP then called her inside a room and she obliged.

“He held my hand, pulled me inside and locked the door. When I asked him why was he closing the door, he told me nothing would happen and made me sit on the bed. He said my husband should talk less and warned me of the consequences. He also said that because of my husband, his mother, Bhavani Revanna, missed the MLA ticket. He told me that if my husband wants to grow politically, I should listen to him [Prajwal],” the woman alleged.

Next, Prajwal allegedly told the woman to lie down on the bed and undress. When the woman refused and said that she would shout, Prajwal allegedly threatened her that he had a gun and warned of dire consequences for her and her husband.

The woman alleged that Prajwal took out his mobile phone and then raped her.

“He raped me and sexually assaulted me and recorded the act on his mobile phone,” the woman alleged. “He threatened to leak the video if I ever spoke about it and told me to be there whenever he wanted. After that, he used to video call me frequently, ask me to be naked during the call and raped me in multiple instances.”

The woman claimed that she was scared and did not make the incident public and chose to come forward after she learnt of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Karnataka government to probe the alleged Hassan sex scandal.

A case was registered under Sections 376(2)(n) (commits rape repeatedly on the same woman), 506 (criminal intimidation), 354A(1)(physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures), 354B (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 354C (voyeurism) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and 66E (violation of privacy) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Prajwal is also accused in a sexual harassment case along with his father, Holenarasipur MLA HD Revanna, registered at the Holenarasipur police station in Hassan on April 28. 

Voting has begun in 88 constituencies across 13 states and Union Territories amid a furious row between the Congress and the BJP over manifesto and inheritance tax. Election will be held on all seats of Kerala, a chunk of Rajasthan and UP.

Key points

Elections for the second phase will be held for 20 seats of Kerala, 14 seats in Karnataka, 13 in Rajasthan, eight each in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five each in Assam and Bihar, three each in Bengal and Chhattisgarh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur and Tripura.

Earlier, 89 constituencies were expected to vote in this phase. But polling in Betul, Madhya Pradesh, was rescheduled after the death of a candidate from Mayawati's Bahujan Samaj Party. Betul will now vote in the third phase, due on May 7.

Key candidates for this round include the BJP's Union minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar  -- up against Congress' Shashi Tharoor from Thiruvananthapuram; actors Hema Malini, and Arun Govil from 1980s iconic serial Ramayan, senior BJP leader Tejasvi Surya and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla,  Congress' Rahul Gandhi, KC Venugopal, Bhupesh Baghel. and Ashok Gehlot's son Vaibhav Gehlot.

For both BJP and the Opposition, the most crucial states in this phase will be Karnataka and Kerala. Karnataka is the only BJP bastion in the south, where the Congress won in the last assembly election. The party is hoping to do well amid concerns about delimitation and the disadvantage southern states could face after it.

Further south, the BJP is trying to break into the bipolar politics of Kerala. The party is hoping to open its account in the state having fielded Union ministers Rajiv Chandrasekhar and V. Muraleedharan. In Wayanand, a Congress bastion for over 20 years, it has fielded its state unit president K Surendran against Rahul Gandhi.

For the Opposition, Kerala is a big shining hope. Even though the Left and the Congress are competing against each other in the southern state, victory by either will add to the tally of the Opposition bloc INDIA. Kerala is one of the few states that have never sent a BJP member to parliament.

With north, west and northeast India saturated, the BJP is hoping to expand in the south and east in their quest for 370 seats. The party had won 303 seats in 2019, a majority of them from the Hindi heartland and bastions new and old, including Gujarat and the northeast.

The Congress, though, has claimed it would post a much better performance compared to 2019. After the first phase of the election, their claims have got louder, especially in Rajasthan and western Uttar Pradesh. Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Tejashwi Yadav has claimed INDIA will win all five seats in Bihar.  

The election is being held amid a bitter face-off between the Congress and the BJP. The row was sparked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi's comment that the Congress, if voted to power, will redistribute the personal wealth of people among "infiltrators" and won't even spare the mangalsutras of women. The Congress has questioned if the people had to fear for their wealth and mangalsutras in 55 years of the party's rule and accused the BJP of sidestepping issues that matter.

The next phase of election is due on May 7. The counting of votes will be held on June 4 – three days after the seventh and last phase of election on June 1.

US fast-food chain KFC has been forced to close over 100 restaurants in Malaysia over a pro-Palestine boycott of the company.

The Straits Times reported on Monday that the American restaurant chain specializing in fried chicken had to reduce its operations across Malaysia, mostly in north-eastern Kelantan state, following calls for a boycott of the company amid protests over the US government’s backing of the Israeli regime in its genocide of the Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Nearly 80 percent, or 21 KFC outlets, in Kelantan state stopped their operations, followed by 15 outlets in Johor and 11 in Selangor, the most industrialized state in Malaysia.

Citing a local Chinese-language newspaper, the Straits Times added the local franchisor of the Louisville, Kentucky-headquartered company in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, QSR Brands Holdings Bhd, is temporarily suspending operations in more than 100 KFC outlets after about half a year of boycott movement. “QSR Brands, which owns and operates the KFC fast-food franchise in Malaysia, is suspending 108 outlets nationwide.”

In this regard, chairman of the pro-Palestinian group Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) in Malaysia, Professor Mohd Nazari Ismail, told the Singapore-based newspaper that, “KFC is not on the BDS list of targeted companies. But many Malaysians see any American fast-food operator to be related to Israel, including KFC.” The BDS has been pushing for various forms of boycott movement against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law.

KFC was also forced to shut its first branch in Algeria earlier this month, just two days after its opening, following protests over US support to Israel.

The boycott action has severely affected worldwide operations of American fast-food giants McDonald’s, KFC, Starbucks, etc., with the pro-Palestine campaign having the potential to spread further across the globe.

Boycotted US companies are either perceived by pro-Palestinians to have taken pro-Israeli stances in the genocidal war on Gaza, or have financial ties to the Israel regime and/or have made illegal investments in the occupied Palestinian lands.