The mobile phone that Karnataka’s rape-convict former MP Prajwal Revanna was found using in the jail in Bengaluru last month contained dozens of porn videos, according to revelations made after a forensic analysis of the material recovered from him.
The 36-year-old Revanna is a former Janata Dal (Secular) MP and the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda and the nephew of Union minister for heavy industries and steel, HD Kumaraswamy.
A late-morning inspection of the security division barracks at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru on August 11 has pulled back the curtain on what investigators now describe as an organised cash-for-favours racket operating inside it. The prison is Karnataka’s largest and most secure correctional facility, and its security division barracks is the section reserved for high-risk and high-profile inmates. Revanna is serving out a life sentence there after being convicted in a rape case last year.
The former MP, who represented the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency in south Karnataka, was caught unawares during the unannounced raid conducted by the state police force’s Crime Branch on August 11. During the operation, which stretched across several hours, Revanna was found in possession of a mobile handset that he had been using in the jail in violation of the prevailing rule for inmates. Alongside the phone, officers recovered a charging cable, a portable storage drive, and a handwritten notebook.
When investigators later sent the seized devices for forensic examination, the results reportedly showed a trove of sexually explicit material stored on the phone, while the storage drive contained a collection of films and streaming content.
Revanna is currently serving out a life term handed down by a Bengaluru court on August 1, 2025, after being found guilty of repeatedly assaulting a 48-year-old woman and circulating recordings of the sexual abuse. The woman worked as a domestic help at the Revanna family’s farmhouse at Holenarasipura in Hassan district. She alleged that Revanna had been raping her repeatedly since 2021.
This is not the first time Revanna’s conduct inside prison has drawn scrutiny — weeks earlier, footage surfaced showing him dressed casually and speaking on a phone, raising early questions about how such access was being arranged. The scale of the material at the heart of his original conviction has been part of what kept this case in the national spotlight. Investigators had earlier recovered nearly 3,000 video clips, photographs, and documents allegedly linked to sexual assault and abuse of women, a cache that formed the backbone of the prosecution’s case against him.
Also WATCH: 60-year-old woman trapped in house toppled by flood in Nepal rescued after 11 days
The controversy surrounding Revanna has never been just a legal matter — it sits at the intersection of dynastic politics and a state party’s fight to hold on to relevance. As the grandson of a former prime minister and nephew of a former chief minister, his case has repeatedly forced uncomfortable questions about whether family name and political lineage buy a different kind of treatment, both in the courtroom and, as this latest episode suggests, within the prison system itself.
Investigators have since named and arrested five individuals in connection with the phone smuggling operation. Central among them is Prakash Gawade, a jail warden who allegedly served as the key link in the chain, personally delivering the SIM card, charger, and storage device to Revanna during separate visits. Notably, Gawade had already been under a cloud, having previously faced suspension and arrest over separate allegations of smuggling narcotics into the facility. Also implicated is Mohammed Tausif, an undertrial prisoner linked to the DJ Halli riot case, who is accused of concealing the SIM card inside his mouth to bypass security checks before passing it along to Revanna.
Also read a HUMOUR article: Snore Wars: The Chatterjee Express
According to the police account, the operation that made phones available to Revanna was financially driven. Investigators said Revanna allegedly paid roughly Rs 70,000 to have the handset smuggled inside jail, with an additional Rs 30,000 changing hands specifically to secure the SIM card. The figures suggest a functioning, almost transactional economy operating within the prison’s walls — one where access to banned items appears to have been available to those willing and able to pay for it.
The case has reignited a broader conversation about how India’s prison system treats inmates with political connections, wealth, or public profile. Revanna’s is not an isolated controversy. Just weeks earlier, public frustration flared after Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, himself a convicted rapist, was granted a 21-day furlough on August 25, his seventeenth temporary release since his conviction in 2017. Critics have repeatedly pointed to such episodes as evidence of a two-tier justice system, where influence and status appear to soften the realities of incarceration for a select few.
Also read: Gangster Goldy Brar says in leaked tape he got Khalistan separatist Nijjar killed in Canada in 2023
The Parappana Agrahara incident involving Revanna is likely to raise more questions over internal prison oversight mechanisms, staff accountability, and whether existing safeguards are adequate to prevent similar breaches involving other high-profile inmates.
