New Delhi:

Karnataka lawmaker Prajwal Revanna – who fled to Germany last month, shortly after horrific sex crimes allegations by women who said he forced them into sexual acts – released a statement Monday, claiming comments and “political drama” by opposition leaders, including Congress MP Rahul Gandhi, “drove me to depression and I was pushed into isolation”. 

“I apologise to my parents… I was in depression. I will come (back to India) and appear before the SIT (a special investigative team set up by the state government) on May 31 (Friday),” Revanna said.

“I will cooperate to the best of my abilities and provide all answers. I have full faith in the legal system (and) I will come out of these false cases against me. I have the blessings of God and my family…”

On May 1, four days after he fled the country, Revanna posted a message on X. He said, “I am not in Bengaluru… I have communicated (to the police) through my lawyer. The truth will prevail soon.”

Revanna is a Janata Dal (Secular) leader and the grandson of party patriarch and ex-Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, and nephew of senior leader and ex-Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy.

He is also the sitting MP from Karnataka’s Hassan Lok Sabha seat, which he has been nominated to defend in the 2024 general election. The JDS is allied with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP.

Revanna’s message – his first public comment on charges against him – comes after a warning from Deve Gowda, who told his grandson to return home and surrender “or face your family’s anger”.

READ | “Surrender Or Face My Anger”: Deve Gowda To Grandson Revanna

Deve Gowda said he had warned Revanna to “not test my patience” and that it took him time to recover from the “shock and pain”. The former Prime Minister – targeted by the ruling Congress, former allies turned political rivals, over claims it was he sent Revanna abroad – stressed he had called for “the harshest punishment under the law” for his grandson “if (he is) found guilty…”

I have issued a warning to @iPrajwalRevanna to return immediately from wherever he is and subject himself to the legal process. He should not test my patience any further. pic.twitter.com/kCMuNJOvAo

— H D Deve Gowda (@H_D_Devegowda) May 23, 2024

Revanna’s uncle, HD Kumaraswamy, has also made an appeal.

READ | “If You Have Respect…”: HD Kumaraswamy’s Appeal To Revanna

The ex-Chief Minister last week also appealed to his nephew. “I have openly appealed to him… told him, ‘if you have respect for the party and Deve Gowda, come back…’ Cooperate with the probe. If you have not done anything prove it. If you have, then face the punishment,” Revanna was told.

READ | Deve Gowda Sent Grandson Abroad: Siddaramaiah On Ex-PM’s Letter

Revanna’s return home may be complicated by the fact the Ministry of External Affairs is set to cancel his diplomatic passport. A request to this effect has been made by the state government.

The centre is in the process of cancelling the travel document, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar has said. Mr Jaishankar also took the chance for a jibe against Karnataka’s ruling Congress, declaring the request to cancel the passport was made only on May 21, several days after the scandal broke.

NDTV Analysis | Systemic Failure In Not Forcing Revanna To Face Law

The Congress and the BJP have attacked each other over the Revanna case.

The former has pointed to the alliance between the BJP and the JDS to claim Prajwal Revanna is being shielded, while the latter has criticised the state government for delayed reactions.

Prajwal Revanna – who faces an arrest warrant from a MP/MLA court – has denied all charges.

Bengaluru:

Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna, an accused in the alleged sex video scandal, will be asked to return to India by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), said Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Monday.

Speaking to media persons, Mr Parameshwara said that an SIT probe would be complete soon and a report is submitted within 10 to 15 days in such cases.

“In this case, the directions have been given on the time frame to the investigation officers. If not for the time frame, the probe will be conducted for years,” he added.

The Home Minister said that an investigation would be conducted and action would be initiated against all the accused mentioned by the victims in the complaint.

“Based on the complaint to the Karnataka State Commission for Women, the state government has formed the SIT led by senior IPS officer B.K. Singh. Two women Superintendents of Police are also part of the team,” he added.

“The state government will not interfere in the probe, it is left to the probe agency to take it forward. The Investigating Officers will take the pen drives containing alleged sex videos which will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for verification. The evidence needed to be collected.”

“According to official information, the main accused Prajwal Revanna had travelled to a foreign country, he will be called back to India by the SIT,” Mr Parameshwara said.

The investigation would be conducted against JD(S) MLA H.D. Revanna against whom the complaint of sexual harassment is lodged separately.

Once the SIT gives a report, the action would be initiated against the accused persons, the Home Minister added.

The SIT officers will probe the matter of the possibility of many more pen drives containing sex videos being prevented from being circulated, Mr Parameshwara said.

The state government is ready to provide security to the complainants and victims if there is a necessity, he added.

Meanwhile, the mother-in-law of one of the victims has said that her daughter-in-law was quiet for five years and lodged a complaint of sexual harassment now.

“Bhavani madam (Prajwal Revanna’s mother) has helped us and she stood with our family. She (daughter-in-law) was taken out forcefully and a complaint was lodged. It is being done to bring disrepute to the Deve Gowda family. This is a false complaint,” she added.

Meanwhile, the SIT has expedited the probe and managed to locate five victims and received information from them after bringing them to the SIT office, sources said.

The victims included government officers and political leaders.

The victims have recorded their statements in front of Superintendent of Police Seema Latkar, sources added.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Bengaluru:

Janata Dal (Secular) lawmaker Sharangouda Kandkur has demanded the suspension of party MP Prajwal Revanna amid a row over explicit videos – allegedly showing the Hassan MP sexually assaulting multiple women – that began circulating a day after voting in his constituency. 

In a two-page letter made public Monday morning, Mr Kandkur told party patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda the JDS had been left “embarrassed by the circulating videos, and it damages the reputation of both you and your party.”

Mr Revanna – who is Mr Deve Gowda’s nephew – is not currently in India. He left for Germany Saturday morning, shortly after the videos emerged online. On Sunday he filed a police complaint claiming the clips – there are reportedly thousands – were doctored. The videos, he claimed, were being distributed to “tarnish his image and poison voters’ minds”. 

This was a day after the Congress government led by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said a special team had been set up to investigate the case.

READ | Siddaramaiah Sets Up Team To Probe Sex Scandal Involving JDS MP

The JDS, which has allied with the BJP for the 2024 Lok Sha election, has refused to comment pending a complete inquiry. 

However, senior party leader and former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy – who is Mr Deve Gowda’s son – said there could be no question of forgiving anyone who had committed a crime.

READ | “Let Facts Come Out”: HD Kumaraswamy On Nephew’s Sex Scandal

He also said the party had nothing to do with Mr Revanna apparently fleeing the country. “If he has gone to a foreign country getting him back is their (the special investigative team) responsibility. What should I say… SIT will get him, don’t worry.”

The scandal broke last week after a woman filed a police case against Mr Revanna, accusing him of sexual assault. The case was filed at a police station in his constituency.

She alleged she had been sexually abused multiple times between 2019 and 2022. The clips circulating show more women and they are likely to come forward to file cases too.

The row has also snowballed into a political squabble between the JDS and the BJP, with some of the national party’s leaders distancing themselves from the state party and calling for a rethink. S Prakash, the BJP state unit’s chief spokesperson, said, “We, as a party, have nothing to do with the videos and neither do we have any comments to make…”

The ruling Congress, meanwhile, has also gotten involved, after reports some BJP leaders had told their party’s state boss, BY Vijayendra, of the clips back in December. They have questioned their rival’s decision to field Mr Revanna despite knowledge of the videos.

Fourteen of Karnataka’s 28 Lok Sabha seats, including Hassan, voted in the second phase last week. The remaining 14 are due to vote in the third phase on May 7, but the JDS is not contesting any of these seats. As per the seat-share agreement, the party – which broke from the Congress to join the BJP in October – fought only three in south Karnataka.