Forensic examination of a mobile phone allegedly used by former Indian MP Prajwal Revanna while serving a life sentence has uncovered dozens of pornographic videos, according to reports.
The phone was seized after Crime Branch officers conducted a surprise inspection at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru on Aug 11 and found Revanna using it inside his cell.
Officers also confiscated a charger, a pen drive and a notebook from the high-security barrack where the former politician was being held.
The mobile phone and pen drive were subsequently sent for forensic examination. A latest report found dozens of pornographic videos stored on the phone, while the pen drive contained several web series.
The discovery has renewed questions over alleged preferential treatment and privileges afforded to high-profile inmates at the prison.
Following the seizure, a prison official was suspended and an investigation was ordered to determine how the prohibited device entered the facility.
Personal mobile phones, SIM cards and electronic communication devices are banned inside prisons, while inmates are only allowed to communicate through designated facilities monitored by the authorities.
Revanna, the grandson of former Indian prime minister HD Deve Gowda and nephew of Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of raping a 48-year-old domestic worker at his family’s farmhouse in Holenarasipura, Hassan district.
The woman alleged that Revanna repeatedly raped her from 2021 and recorded the assaults before threatening her to prevent her from revealing them to anyone.
The latest incident has put further pressure on prison authorities to explain how a mobile phone could have been brought into a high-security cell and used by a high-profile inmate without being detected earlier.
