New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition by suspended Janta Dal (S) leader Prajwal Revanna seeking bail in a case involving allegations of rape and sexual assault.

The matter was heard by a bench of Justices Bela M. Trivedi and Satish Chandra Sharma. 

Reports of sexual abuse involving Prajwal Revanna surfaced following the circulation of pen drives containing explicit videos allegedly featuring him. These videos were reportedly distributed in Karnataka's Hassan district just before the Lok Sabha elections on April 26.

The first case was registered on April 28 at the Holenarasipura Town police station in Hassan, where Prajwal Revanna was accused of sexually harassing a 47-year-old former domestic worker. In this case, Prajwal was named as the second accused, while his father, HD Revanna, a local MLA, was listed as the primary accused.

The second case was initiated by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on May 1, following allegations from a 44-year-old former member of the Hassan Zilla Panchayat. She accused Prajwal of repeatedly raping her.

Prajwal’s father, H.D. Revanna, was previously arrested in relation to the case but was subsequently granted bail. His mother, Bhavani Revanna, who was also named in the complaint, secured anticipatory bail.

Justice M Nagaprasanna of the High Court had dismissed Revanna's bail plea, stating that the allegations against him indicated "wanton lust" and "depravity of senses," which posed a significant concern to society.

Prajwal was apprehended by the CID's Special Investigation Team (SIT) at Bengaluru airport in May upon his return from Germany, where he had stayed for 35 days following the emergence of hundreds of explicit videos purportedly involving him with multiple women. 

The release of these videos occurred during a contentious election period, in which Prajwal ultimately lost by a margin of over 40,000 votes.