Minutes after arriving here after midnight on Friday, suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually abusing several women, was detained by the SIT investigating the matter. After arriving from Munich, the 33-year-old MP was detained by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at the Kempegowda International Airport and taken to the CID headquarters for questioning. A sizeable contingent of police officers were stationed at the airport to ensure their safe transportation for further examination. A month after the controversy began, the MP, dressed in what appeared to be a hoodie, returned to Bengaluru, where he was detained by Central Industrial Security Forces investigators and eventually handed over to the SIT.
He had an outstanding warrant against him. According to sources, the SIT took him into custody after the formalities. Authorities said police officers, aware of his protection, took him out through a secondary exit. Prajwal Revanna, accused of sexually abusing several women, uploaded a video on May 27 and claimed that he would appear before the SIT on May 31. This was exactly a month after he left the country. Prajwal, 33, a BJP-JD(S) alliance candidate from the Hassan Lok Sabha segment and grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, is accused of sexually abusing numerous women. He has so far been accused of sexual assault in three cases. He had left for Germany on April 27, a day after Hassan went to the polls. Interpol had earlier issued a “blue notice” seeking information about his whereabouts, following a request by the SIT through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
A Special Court for Elected Representatives issued an arrest warrant on May 18 against Prajwal Revanna, following an application filed by the SIT. The Congress-led Karnataka government has urged the Center to cancel its diplomatic passport. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has sent a show-cause notice to Prajwal asking why his diplomatic passport should not be canceled as claimed by the Karnataka government, in view of the sexual abuse allegations against him. The parliamentarian, calling the cases against him false and alleging political conspiracy, had said in a video statement issued earlier this week that he had fallen into depression. He had also filed an anticipatory bail petition before the Principal Municipal and Sessions Court for Elected Representatives on May 29, which issued notice to the SIT to file objections, before fixing the hearing for Friday. The scandal has sparked a political storm with the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) locked in a fight.
The NDA’s allies, the BJP and the JD(S), have insisted that the investigation be handed over to the CBI and that those responsible for the widespread distribution of pornographic recordings face consequences, even as the Congress government has created a SIT to investigate the instances. The sexual abuse cases emerged after many pen drives allegedly containing pornographic films of Prajwal went viral in Hassan ahead of the April 26 Lok Sabha elections. Prajwal Revanna recently received a “stern warning” from Deve Gowda, who demanded that he return to the nation so that an investigation could be carried out into the sexual assault allegations. He also promised that neither he nor any other family member would hinder the investigation. The JD(S) supremo had reiterated that his grandson should be given the harshest punishment under the law “if he is found guilty”. Prajwal’s uncle and former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had also repeatedly asked his nephew to return to the country from abroad and face the investigation. JD(S) suspended Prajwal Revanna from the party following the allegations.
(With input from PTI)