The ongoing political uproar over a sex scandal case linked to Prajwal Revanna, sitting MP from Hassan and grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda took a fresh twist on Tuesday after suspended Janata Dal (Secular) leader's former driver, Karthik, denied that he had shared the pen drive with the Congress leaders. The former driver said that he had given these videos only to Karnataka BJP leader Devaraje Gowda.
Today, Prajwal's former driver and Devaraje Gowda accused each other of leaking the alleged sleaze videos of the JD(S) MP which caused a big embarrassment to the NDA ally.
SIT probe into sex scandal
The Karnataka government constituted a three-member Special Investigation Team (SIT) of IPS officers led by Additional Director General of Police B K Singh to probe the alleged sexual harassment of many women by Prajwal, who is said to be in Germany currently.
An FIR has already been registered against Prajwal as well as his father Revanna at the Holenarasipura police station in Hassan district for allegedly sexually harassing their former cook.
What Prajwal's ex-driver said
In a video message on social media, the driver said that he worked with Prajwal Revanna for the last 15 years but it has been a year since he has not been with him.
“The reason (for distancing from Prajwal) was that my land was taken away and my wife was beaten up. I was mentally tortured. Because my land was taken away, I came out of the job and started my fight (to get back land),” Karthik said in the message.
He said he had approached Devaraje Gowda for justice as had been fighting against the Deve Gowda family.
Devaraje Gowda had fought the 2023 assembly election from Holenarasipura assembly constituency on the BJP ticket and lost to Prajwal.
In the meantime, Prajwal had brought a stay order to prevent me from releasing any sleaze photos or videos, Karthik said.
“Devaraje Gowda told me to hand over the photos and videos which he promised to hand over to the judge to help vacate the stay. Trusting him, I gave him a copy, which he used,” the driver claimed.
“Other than Devaraje Gowda, I did not give this video to Congress leaders or anyone else. I did not give the videos and photos to Congress leaders because they were quite close to Prajwal. Hence, I approached Devaraje Gowda, but he too cheated me,” Karthik alleged.
Devaraje Gowda had flagged his party about the issue
Since the BJP and the JD(S) have forged an alliance, Karthik said Devaraje Gowda had written to his party high command not to give ticket to Prajwal pointing to his conduct.
Devaraje Gowda rejects charges
Rejecting the charges, Devaraje Gowda told reporters in Bengaluru that Karthik had been hanging around with the Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Hassan constituency Shreyas Patel.
He said that neither the JD(S) nor the BJP would release the videos as it would go against the NDA alliance's candidate.
“If there was someone benefiting from this, it was Congress. Only for his political gain, the Congress candidate (Shreyas Patel) has mortgaged the modesty of women seen in the videos,” Devaraje Gowda said.
He said he is waiting for the SIT to serve him a notice where he will release important documents. The BJP leader said the Congress leaders will fall in the ditch they had dug for others.
Home Minister Amit Shah's reaction
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday condemned the alleged sexual abuse of women involving Prajwal Revanna, asserting that the BJP will not tolerate any insult to women.
“The issue regarding Revanna that has been reported in the media is very hurtful and cannot be tolerated in any way,” Shah told a press conference.
“The BJP’s stand is very clear; we will not tolerate any insult to ‘matri aur nari shakti’ (women empowerment),” he asserted.
What is the whole matter?
A case of sexual harassment and stalking was registered on Sunday against the son and grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, former minister HD Revanna and Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna respectively. The case was registered in Holenarasipur police station in the district based on a complaint by their cook. The complainant said she is a relative of Revanna’s wife Bhavani. She alleged that four months after she started working, Revanna used to sexually harass her, and his son Prajwal used to make video calls to her daughter and have "vulgar conversations" with her. She also alleged that there was a threat to her life as well as other members of her family.
Kumaraswamy and Shivakumar spar on the issue
Senior JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy and Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar engaged in a war of words over the alleged sex scandal involving Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna.
Kumaraswamy, who is JD(S) second-in-command, accused Shivakumar of hatching the conspiracy of circulating the videos in public and then setting up a SIT to probe into the matter.
"Bringing out truth of the main accused is just one part of it. How the pen drive was circulated, and the 'great leader' (Shivakumar) who circulated it, for what reason it was circulated, for how many months the 'great leader' was aware of it. These are the questions," Kumaraswamy told reporters in Hubballi.
Reacting to Kumaraswamy’s allegation, Shivakumar said the JD(S) first family has been remembering him for many years without which they do not get proper sleep.
"Kumaraswamy had said in the television interview that the BJP high command had cautioned him that he (Prajwal) is not good and think before giving him a ticket. He also said giving the ticket to Prajwal was his father Deve Gowda’s decision," claimed Shivakumar.
Terming the charges against Prajwal 'serious', the deputy chief minister said the matter here is women’s modesty.
(With agencies inputs)
