Sexual abuse case: Prajwal Revanna says he will appear before SIT on May 31

BENGALURU, May 27: Exactly a month after he left the country, suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna, who is accused of sexually abusing several women, has promised to appear before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the allegations against him on May 31. He termed the allegations against him as “false” and part of a “political conspiracy” and claimed that he had fallen into depression. “I will appear in person before the SIT on Friday, May 31 at 10 am and will cooperate with the investigation and also respond to it (the allegations). I have faith in the judiciary and I am confident that I will be acquitted of the false allegations in court,” Pajwal said in a video statement that is now being widely shared. There was no immediate independent confirmation from the JD(S) or the Hassan MP’s family on the matter. “May the blessings of God, people and my family be upon me. I will surely appear before the SIT on Friday, May 31. When I come, I will try to put an end to this. Trust me,” he said in his video message in Kannada. Prajwal apologized to his parents, grandfather HD Deve Gowda, uncle HD Kumaraswamy, people of the state and party workers and said, “I have come to you to share information as I have not revealed where I am abroad.”

Noting that he had asked for a week to respond to the SIT notice through his ‘X’ account and lawyers, Prajwal said, “Though I had asked for time, senior Congress MPs, including Rahul Gandhi, started discussing things (about me) in public meetings the very next day.” “They have hatched a political conspiracy. When I saw all this, I went into depression and isolated myself. So, I first asked for your apology and forgiveness,” he said. Alleging that a political conspiracy was hatched against him by some forces in his constituency Hassan too, the MP said, “When I grew politically, they all joined hands to finish me off. When I saw all this, I was shocked and stayed away. So nobody should confuse (me) with it.” The election was held on April 26, at which time there was no case pending against me and the SIT was also not set up, Prajwal said. “My foreign trip on April 26 was also planned earlier. So I left the country after three or four days… When I saw YouTube, a news channel, I came to know (of the development back home). After that, the SIT also issued a notice.” Meanwhile, Karnataka Home Minister G Parameshara welcomed Prajwal’s statement that he would appear before the SIT later this week and cooperate with the investigation. “He is coming back, that’s good. Let him come and give his statement, then we will wait and see what the SIT does.”

When asked about the source of Prajwal’s video statement, Parameshwara said, “I don’t know, you (the media) showed it to me. I came to know a few hours ago that he had released a statement, but I have not seen the video.”

Asked why the source of the video cannot be traced, he said, “You and I may not know, but the SIT would…” Addressing reporters in Chikkaballapura today, Kumaraswamy said it was “some consolation” that Prajwal had complied with the family’s instruction to come back and face investigation. “In the next few days, the truth should emerge through investigation. Whose role is what in this case will become clear through the SIT’s probe. Let’s see what they do,” he said. BJP and opposition leader R Ashoka said there should be a fair investigation. Despite the delay, Prajwal has accepted that no one is above the law. Prajwal (33), the grandson of JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and NDA candidate for Hassan’s Lok Sabha sector, is accused of sexually abusing women. He reportedly left for Germany on April 27, a day after Hassan went to the polls, and is still at large. Interpol has already issued a ‘Blue Corner Notice’ seeking information on his whereabouts, following a request from the SIT through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation organisation to collect additional information from its member countries about a person’s identity, whereabouts or activities in connection with a crime. A special court for elected representatives issued an arrest warrant against Prajwal Revanna on May 18 following a request from the SIT. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has served Prajwal with a notice of reply, seeking to explain why his diplomatic passport should not be cancelled as requested by the Karnataka government in view of the sexual abuse allegations against him. The scandal has triggered a political storm, with the ruling Congress and the BJP-JD(S) trading blows. While the Congress government has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the cases, the BJP and the JD(S) – NDA partners – have demanded that the team be handed over to the CBI and action be taken against those behind the circulating explicit videos. The sexual abuse cases came to light after pen drives containing explicit videos of Prajwal were allegedly circulated in Hassan ahead of the Lok Sabha elections there. Recently, Deve Gowda had issued a “stern warning” to Prajwal Revanna, asking him to return to the country and face the investigation into the sexual abuse allegations. He or other family members would not interfere in the investigation. The JD(S) chief reiterated that “if found guilty”, his grandson should be given the harshest punishment under the law.

(PTI)