NEW DELHI, India, Aug 3: A court in southern India has sentenced Prajwal Revanna, a prominent politician from Karnataka, to life imprisonment after finding him guilty of raping a member of his household staff.

The sentencing was handed down on Saturday, just one day after Revanna was convicted of sexually assaulting his former employee. The 34-year-old former Member of Parliament belongs to a powerful political family in the state.

The case first gained national attention in 2023 when hundreds of explicit videos allegedly involving Revanna surfaced on social media, sparking widespread public outrage. At the time, Revanna denied the accusations. However, after his conviction on Friday, he reportedly broke down in court and pleaded for leniency in sentencing.

Revanna, the grandson of former Indian Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, is a member of the Janata Dal (Secular) party, which is currently allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). His conviction is notable in a country where high-profile figures are rarely held accountable in such cases.

In April 2024, Revanna left India using a diplomatic passport, shortly after the alleged abuse videos began circulating. While he made no public statements at the time, a representative from his office claimed the videos had been manipulated.

He was arrested in May upon returning from Germany. In addition to the conviction, Revanna is facing two other rape cases and one case of sexual harassment, all of which he denies.

He retains the right to appeal the life sentence.