An Indian politician has fled to Germany amid allegations that he raped around 400 women and filmed himself while doing so.
Prajwal Revanna, 33, is the grandson of a former prime minister of India and an ally of the incumbent Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He is alleged to have used the 2,800 videos of the assaults to blackmail his victims.
Police are currently investigating the allegations.
The allegations against Revanna became public last week when around 2,000 USB sticks containing videos of the alleged attacks were left on buses, trains and park benches across Karnataka where elections are being held in 28 constituencies.
The local media quoted one of the alleged victims, a former councillor in Bangalore, as saying that Revanna raped her repeatedly. Revanna was contesting the election for a seat in the city of Hassan before he fled India.
Modi has been accused of doing nothing to punish Revanna despite knowing about the allegations.
Rahul Gandhi, a member of the opposition party, the Indian National Congress, said that BJP officials were aware of the allegations before they were made public. He told a rally in Karnataka: “This is not a sex scandal but a mass rape. The prime minister has supported a mass rapist.”
“All BJP leaders knew that Prajwal Revanna is a mass rapist and they still allied with him and fielded him in the polls.”
