Karnataka police on Sunday arrested Janata Dal Secular MLC Suraj Revanna, grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda and elder brother of former MP Prajwal Revanna, on the charge of homosexual rape of a party worker.

Suraj, who has claimed innocence and alleged a political conspiracy, is the third member of the Revanna family to be arrested in cases related to sexual abuse charges.

Prajwal, former Hassan MP who lost the April 26 election, was arrested on May 31 on the charge of raping a woman who briefly worked as a cook at the Revanna home. He is being probed by a special investigation team (SIT) also over pictures and video clips in a pen drive that allegedly show the sexual abuse of multiple women.

Earlier in May, Prajwal’s father H.D. Revanna — the Holenarasipura MLA and son of Deve Gowda — was arrested on the charge of abducting the former cook, apparently to prevent her lodging a complaint against Prajwal. Revanna, also accused by the woman of sexual abuse, is out on bail.

The SIT had concluded that Revanna’s wife, Bhavani Revanna, was the mastermind behind the alleged abduction and should be arrested and interrogated. But Karnataka High Court on June 18 granted anticipatory bail to her.

A 27-year-old party worker in Hassan district had lodged a police complaint accusing Suraj of raping him on June 16 at his farmhouse in Ghannikada, Holenarsipura taluk, Hassan.

The police then filed an FIR against Suraj under Indian Penal Code Sections 377 (homosexual rape), 342 (wrongful confinement) and 506 (criminal intimidation). The case was handed over to the CID after Suraj's arrest.

Shivakumar, an aide to Suraj, has in a counter-complaint accused the complainant of trying to extort ₹5 crore from the MLC through a false allegation.

The series of sexual abuse allegations against the family began with the discovery of pen drives from vantage points in Hassan city days ahead of the April 26 Lok Sabha polls. Prajwal, the outgoing MP, fled to Germany in the early hours of April 27. He eventually lost the seat to the Congress.

Prajwal returned to India on May 31 following repeated appeals from his grandfather, Deve Gowda, and paternal uncle and former chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. He was arrested on arrival at Bengaluru airport and, after a spell in police custody, is now in judicial custody.

Police sources have confirmed that the pen drives contain 2,976 files of allegedly sexually explicit acts, some purportedly amounting to rape. The Opposition accuses Prajwal of filming them and featuring in them, but the police haven’t confirmed this.