India, Aug. 3 -- Former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, recently convicted in a rape case, made an emotional plea for leniency before a Bengaluru court, claiming he was being targeted for his rapid rise in politics and asserting that the complainants had not come forward voluntarily. The Special Court for MPs and MLAs, however, sentenced the 33-year-old politician, and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, to life imprisonment on Saturday for raping a 48-year-old domestic worker employed at his family's farmhouse in Hassan.

Prajwal, who was convicted a day earlier, addressed the court ahead of the sentencing and appeared visibly distraught as he spoke in both English and Kannada. "Sir, they say I have raped multiple women. But none ...