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:

Janata Dal Secular MP and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna, who is at the centre of a political storm over Karnataka sex tapes case, could be returning to Bengaluru tomorrow.

NDTV has accessed a Munich-Bengaluru ticket on a Lufthansa Airlines flight that is scheduled to land at 12.30 am tomorrow. The ticket mentions Prajwal Revanna as a business class passenger.

This ticket, it is learnt, is believed to have been booked on the same day when the 33-year-old MP booked a ticket to Germany. This was a day before an FIR was registered against him. In the wake of the allegations, Revanna had said in a social media post on May 1, “As I am not in Bangalore to attend the enquiry, I have communicated to C.I.D Bangalore through my Advocate. Truth will prevail soon.”

It must, however, be noted that quite a booked in the name of Prajwal Revanna have surfaced in the past few weeks. All of them have turned out to be false alarm. But in no mood to take chances, Karnataka police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the high-profile case, has alerted airport authorities to keep an eye out. A lookout notice and a Blue Corner notice have been issued to track Revanna down.

In a political bomb that dropped in the middle of the election season, hundreds of explicit videos allegedly featuring Prajwal Revanna, JDS candidate for Hassan Lok Sabha seat, leaked late last month. Soon after, an SIT was formed to investigate the case. The JDS leader, who has now been suspended by the party, faces multiple cases of rape, sexual harassment, voyeurism and criminal intimidation.

His father and Mr Deve Gowda’s son HD Revanna, a JDS legislator, had been arrested in one of these cases and is now out on bail. The veteran leader faces a kidnapping case, in which a man has alleged that he was involved in kidnapping his mother, who worked as a house help at his home for six years. The complainant has alleged that a video showing Prajwal Revanna sexually abusing his mother leaked recently and his mother went missing soon after.

HD Revanna has termed the case a “political conspiracy”. In my 40 years of political life, I have never seen anything like this,” he has said.

The sex tapes case has, meanwhile, snowballed into a full-blown political slugfest as the JDS has alleged a conspiracy and the Congress has used the row to attack BJP, which has tied up with the JDS for this Lok Sabha election.

Prajwal Revanna’s uncle and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy has alleged that a “big whale” was behind leaking the sex tapes. His swipe was apparently directed at Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar.

The Congress leader responded, “I am neither director nor producer. I am only an exhibitor, theatre exhibitor.” On Mr Kumaraswamy’s allegations that HD Revanna was arrested to defame Mr Deve Gowda, Mr Shivakumar said, “Not at all. See, I too feel sorry for him (Revanna). I, too, feel that such things should not happen. It’s such a big family. Let them think whatever they want but I don’t wish anything bad for anyone and I don’t need it.”

Countering the Congress’s charge at the BJP over the allegations against ally JDS’ leaders, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said there should be zero tolerance for someone like Prajwal Revanna, and accused the Congress government in Karnataka of allowing the JDS MP to leave the country.

Bengaluru:

Karnataka Home Minister Dr G Parameshwara on Wednesday turned down former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy’s demand for a CBI probe into the sexual harassment case against JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna.

He said the state government’s CID is competent enough to investigate the case.

“Kumaraswamy had raised over 100 questions. I cannot answer all of them. He had asked for the CBI probe, which we will not do. The SIT is competent. I have said that we will get a proper investigation done,” the Home Minister said.

According to Mr Parameshwara, three people have been arrested so far in a case related to the kidnapping of a woman, who is a mother of three, in which Holenarasipura JD(S) MLA and Prajwal’s father H D Revanna is also an accused and presently in the jail serving the judicial custody.

Prajwal Revanna is the son of former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H D Deve Gowda. His son Prajwal, who is under investigation for multiple cases of sexual harassment of women, has reportedly fled the country and is absconding.

Regarding the progress in the investigation, the home minister said three people have been arrested, including Revanna and his aide Sathish Babanna.

He declined to share the details of the third person saying that disclosing the name would affect the investigation.

To a question whether there will be any investigation against those who leaked the videos, Parameshwara said, “We do not wish to hide anything. The probe will also cover the circulation of the pen drive.” “Kumaraswamy has alleged that policemen have distributed it. Which police distributed it and where are the aspects we have to look into? The SIT will decide whether to issue any notice to Kumaraswamy on his charges,” Mr Parameshwara explained.

He said the government trusts the SIT and will wait for its report to be submitted.

On Kumaraswamy’s demand to investigate Rahul Gandhi for his statement that 400 women were raped, Parameshwara said that it would be the decision of the SIT.

On not arresting Karthik Gowda, driver of Prajwal Revanna, who is believed to have had the pen drive containing explicit videos allegedly involving the MP and several women, Mr Parameshwara said there should be clear evidence to arrest someone.

“Until we receive evidence, we cannot arrest Karthik or Devaraje Gowda (BJP leader),” the minister said.

On giving protection to Karthik or Devaraje Gowda, Mr Parameshwara said that protection would be extended only to the women who were victims and nobody else. 

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