‘Deve Gowda sent Prajwal Revanna away’: Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah alleges after former PM’s letter

Prajwal Revanna left India for Europe in the early hours of April 27 — shortly after the Lok Sabha elections 2024 for the Hassan seat where he was the NDA candidate were held on that day. The purported sex videos of the MP already emerged in the public domain ahead of the Hassan polls — with some of them revealing incidents of alleged sexual assault.

On April 28, the Karnataka Congress government set up an SIT after the sex videos and assault cases were referred to the government and state police chief by the chairman of the state women’s commission. The SIT has registered three FIRs for rape against the Hassan MP after locating victims seen in the sex videos allegedly filmed by the politician himself.

On Thursday, with Prajwal Revanna missing for 26 days and with Siddaramaiah writing a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna, Deve Gowda made a public call for his return. “At this juncture, I can do only one thing. I can issue a stern warning to Prajwal and ask him to return from wherever he is and surrender before the police. He should subject himself to the legal process. This is not an appeal that I am making, it is a warning I am issuing,” Gowda said.

“If he does not heed this warning, he will have to face my anger and the anger of all his family members. The law will take care of the accusations against him, but not listening to the family will ensure his total isolation,” the JD(S) national president said. Gowda said he “cannot convince people that I was unaware of Prajwal’s activities”. “I cannot convince them that I have no desire to shield him. I cannot convince them that I am not aware of his movements, and that I was not aware of his foreign trip.”

On Friday, Siddaramaiah said the crucial aspect in the cases against Prajwal Revanna was the rape allegations and not the circulation of the alleged sex videos which revealed the incidents as it has been argued by Prajwal Revanna’s uncle — JDS leader and former CM H D Kumaraswamy.

“The video and the release of the video are not the important aspect of the case. The major offence is rape. In an attempt to dilute this situation, Kumaraswamy is speaking on other things in the case. He is accusing D K Shivakumar (state Congress chief) and others (of leaking the videos of the incidents). They have to respect the law of the land,” Siddaramaiah said.

“His (Kumaraswamy’s) elder brother’s (Revanna’s) son is the accused person in the case. He has not been named as the perpetrator but is an accused person till a trial is conducted and proved in court,” he said.

Siddaramaiah said he is hopeful of a response from PM Modi on his two letters seeking the cancellation of the diplomatic passport used by Prajwal Revanna to go to Germany first on April 27 and then other parts of Europe subsequently on a Schengen visa.

“I have not got a response from the PM for the first letter. When the chief minister of an elected government writes a letter there is the belief that there would be a response. We have to see if there is a reply to the second letter,” Siddaramaiah said. “I have sought the cancellation of the diplomatic passport in two letters,” he said.

He did not offer comments to suggestions that Prajwal Revanna will return only after the conclusion of the Lok Sabha election process on June 4.