Prajwal Revanna Case: SIT Chargesheet Reveals How Driver Stole, Leaked Videos

The leak was reportedly fuelled out of vengeance when, in 2022, Karthik had a fallout with Revanna over a land parcel in Hassan, which he had to let go of in the MP's favour, and finally was dismissed from service. He allied with Devarajegowda G, a local BJP leader and rival of Revanna.

Since Karthik was a trusted driver of Prajwal Revanna, he exploited his proximity and had memorised the phone’s PIN, and when he got an opportunity, he transferred the private videos to his own phone and later to a hard drive. To cover his tracks, he filed a false police complaint in August 2021, claiming his phones were lost.

In 2024, the videos were copied onto 70 pen drives purchased locally and distributed to political rivals. They were also placed in public areas to ensure many people could access the videos. In this conspiracy, he was also joined by Revanna’s auditor Harish SN, who was upset for not getting a govt job, Naveen Gowda, who launched a Facebook “teaser campaign”, hinting at the leaks and by one more accused, Nishanth MJ, who showed the videos to political leaders at his home.

When the issue had come out in public, followed by the State government handing over the case to the SIT to probe the larger allegations of sexual abuse, the probe team examined the role of over 50 individuals and, based on available material, named 39 persons, including the driver in the charge sheet detailing how the videos of victims had come out in public. Subsequently, Prajwal Revanna, who is the grandson of former prime minister Deve Gowda, was convicted in the sexual assault case and sentenced to life imprisonment.