Revanna’s conviction was based on the complaint filed by a 47-year-old domestic help on 5 May 2024, in which she accused Revanna of sexual harassment between 2019 and 2021, at the family’s farmhouse in Hassan and his residence in Bengaluru.

Defeated in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Hassan — which he held in 2019 — Revanna fled to Germany a day after the election results and has been in jail ever since his return on 31 May 2024.

Once billed as Deve Gowda’s political heir and endorsed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, Revanna’s conviction marks a significant personal and political setback for the JD(S) patriarch and his party.