Rape case: How cutting-edge technology helped cops identify Prajwal Revanna in sex videos

BENGALURU: When the sex videos linked to Prajwal Revanna first surfaced, they triggered a storm of political outrage and speculation. His supporters cast doubt on the authenticity of the footage, arguing that none of the clips showed his face.

His family called it a "political conspiracy" while Prajwal himself claimed that "truth will prevail".But what ultimately prevailed was science-backed forensic investigation and the determined work of SIT (Special Investigation Team) chief BK Singh, along with IPS officers Simon CA, Suman Pennekar, and Seema Latkar, who refused to let the survivors down.

In fact, when Prajwal was taken into custody, SIT sleuths faced a critical challenge: was the man seen in the explicit videos actually him? What made it more difficult was the fact that not a single video had captured his complete face; all the videos showed was a man who was nude below the waist area.

To answer that, they turned to a cutting-edge forensic technique — anatomical comparison of genital features — a method increasingly followed by sleuths across the world in identifying sexual offenders.A senior police officer explained: "This is a method used to nail down cybercriminals in child pornography cases. When criminals anonymously send photos of their private parts to youngsters through apps or email to entice them, such photos are compared with the images available in the sex offenders' registry.

If there is a match, the identity of the sender is established. Otherwise, the photos of the suspects are matched with the images received by survivors.

"The same was applied in Prajwal's case. "The videos, while lacking facial evidence, contained high-resolution footage of the male genitalia. To make a scientific comparison, a team of forensic experts brought on board dermatologists, urologists, and forensic medical specialists.

With informed legal consent and under clinical supervision, standardised photographs of Prajwal's private parts were taken using medically accepted procedures.

These clinical images were compared with video stills using a structured forensic method," the officer elaborated.The experts analysed multiple morphological and anatomical markers, including moles, scars, and pigmentation unique to the genital area.

The overall shape and vascular patterns in the phallus were also examined along with hair distribution and body marks visible around the genital and lower abdominal region. "Each of these features is highly individual — like a unique fingerprint," the officer added.Earlier, the cops had, as part of the reconstruction of sequence of events, taken Prajwal to all the possible places, including the house in Holenarsipur where the alleged rape incidents took place. "In one of the photos taken, the toe closely matched that of the person in the video," another source said.