Auto driver stripped for molesting minor; tension prevails in Suratkal

A day after National Commission for Women said no woman from Hassan approached the national body to file complaints against Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna, a new FIR accusing BJP leader Devaraje Gowda of abusing and assaulting a woman has come to light.

The FIR against Gowda was filed by a woman at the Holenarasipura town police station on April 1, after her husband had filed a complaint against the BJP leader on March 30. 

The purported victim's husband has alleged in his plaint that Gowda barged into their home, and threatened the couple while the BJP leader also abused the woman.

Gowda, notably, flagged Prajwal Revanna's case to the saffron party.

Reacting to the allegations levelled against him, the BJP politico posted a video on Facebook where he details how he met the woman and her husband in his office. He also claims that the allegations against him are a plot and false.

It must be noted here that a Special Investigation Team is currently probing the sexual assault cases against Prajwal Revanna who along with his driver Karthik is no longer in the country. A Blue Corner notice is also in place to apprehend the son of H D Revanna who himself is placed under judicial custody till May 14.

In a major twist to the entire case— the woman in the FIR alleged that Devaraje Gowda who apprised BJP of the sex videos involving Prajwal Revanna— has been harassing her for the past 10 months under the guise of helping her sell a property.

The woman also said that she came in contact with Gowda during the process involving the property that she wanted to sell. However, on the pretext of guiding her, the woman alleged that the whistleblower BJP leader physically assaulted and harassed her while Gowda also threatened the couple.

The woman has now sought police protection for herself and family. Further levelling allegations against Gowda in her plaint, she said that the politico had taken her to an isolated place where he assaulted her and threatened to kill the couple.

Former chief minister of Karnataka and Prajwal Revanna's uncle H D Kumaraswamy recently demanded a CBI probe in the Prajwal Revanna matter. However, Home Minister G Parameshwara turned down the demand for the investigation to be handed over to CBI.

Mangaluru, May 20: In a heart-wrenching turn of events, a young man ended his life by stepping in front of a speeding train at Kolakadi railway gate near Mulky, following the tragic suicide of his beloved girlfriend. This sorrowful incident unfolded on Sunday casting a pall of grief over their families and the community.

The Victims of Love

The deceased, Kartik Poojary, a 20-year-old mechanic, had returned to his home in Molottu on Saturday after working in Chitradurga. Kartik lived with his mother and grandmother in Molottu, and had recently started working at a relative’s garage.

Kartik’s heart belonged to his collage mate Sharanya, 19, daughter of Harish Kotyan. Their love, blooming in their teenage years, faced the stern disapproval of their parents due to their young age. Although their parents had reluctantly agreed to their union through a legal bond to marry once they reached the appropriate age, fate took a cruel turn.

The Cruel Twist of Fate

In a sudden decision, Sharanya's parents withdrew her from college and sent her away to Moodbidri. Overwhelmed by despair and separation, Sharanya ended her life by hanging herself at home while her family was away on Friday. Her death was a blow too harsh for Kartik to bear.

A Grief Too Heavy to Bear

Kartik, shattered by the news of Sharanya’s death, hurried back to his home in Molottu on Saturday. The following morning, with his mother away in Kerala on urgent business, Kartik's grief culminated in his tragic decision. He walked to the railway tracks at Kolakadi and succumbed to his sorrow under the wheels of a passing train.

The Aftermath

The Mulky police, led by Inspector Vidyadhar, arrived at the scene and registered a case. The community is left mourning the untimely deaths of two young lives intertwined by love and separated by an unkind twist of fate.

The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) on Monday responded to Karnataka’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) regarding a blue corner notice issued against JDS MP Prajwal Revanna.

In its response, Interpol said that all 196 member countries were alerted to identify and report if Prajwal Revanna is spotted at any port in their jurisdiction.

The Karnataka government issued a Blue Corner Notice on Sunday against Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexual abuse by his staff members.

A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, location or activities about a crime.

The notice was issued after the 33-year-old Hassan MP reportedly flew to Germany soon after the Karnataka State Commission for Women chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to the CM to order a probe into the sexual allegations against Prajwal.

Last week, the anticipatory bail application of Prajwal Revanna was also denied by Justice Santosh Gajanana Bhat’s bench of People’s Representative Court in Bengaluru.

Earlier, his MLA father and son of former Prime Minster HD Deve Gowda, HD Revanna was remanded to Karnataka SIT custody in a kidnapping-related sex scandal case.

His arrest came after the kidnapped victim was rescued from Revanna’s close assistant Rajasekhar’s farmhouse in Kalenahalli, Hunsur Taluk after the SIT conducted the rescue operation to find her, the police said.

The abduction case was filed by the son of a woman who worked at the Revannas’ house for nearly five years. He alleged that his mother was kidnapped from her home on April 29 by Satish Babanna a relative of Revanna.

The Karnataka Sex Scandal case pertains to explicit video clips allegedly involving the 33-year-old Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, which went viral on social media.

Those videos began to make rounds in Hassan in recent days, following which the state government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the sexual abuse allegations against the MP.