Aug 02, Kathmandu - A special court in Karnataka, India, has sentenced Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) leader and former MP Prajwal Revanna to life imprisonment, after he was convicted in a rape case.

Special Court Judge Santosh Gajanan Bhatta sentenced Revanna to life imprisonment. The court also fined Revanna Rs 1 million and ordered him to pay Rs 700,000 in compensation to the victim.

On Friday, the court convicted Revanna. Revanna had appealed to the court for a lesser sentence, claiming he had done nothing wrong.

Revanna has four rape cases registered against him. The case concerns a 48-year-old woman who worked as a domestic worker at Revanna's family's Gannikada farmhouse in Hassan district.

Revanna, the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, was convicted of raping her twice in 2021 at her farmhouse in Hassan and her home in Bangalore. He had also recorded the act on his mobile phone and threatened to leak the video if she told anyone about it.

The prosecution had taken statements from 26 witnesses and submitted 180 documents. The main evidence was that of the victim, which was very credible. The Special Investigation Team investigating the case had filed a 1,632-page chargesheet in September 2024. It included statements from 113 witnesses.

The cases came to light ahead of the Lok Sabha elections in Hassan on April 26, 2024, over the alleged circulation of pendrives containing allegedly obscene videos related to Prajwal Revanna. Revanna, who had fled to Germany, was arrested at the airport on May 31 last year.