Bengaluru: JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy has claimed that 25,000 pen drives with videos of women being sexually abused allegedly by his nephew, Lok Sabha election candidate Prajwal Revanna, were distributed before polls, and accused Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar of a conspiracy.
The former chief minister also sought to discredit the Special Investigation Team (SIT) formed by the Congress government on April 28 to probe the charges against Prajwal of sexually abusing several women after videos allegedly involving him started making the rounds on social media.
"It is not a Special Investigation Team but 'Siddaramaiah Investigation Team' and 'Shivakumar Investigation Team'," the JD(S) second-in-command, who is the son of party supremo and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, said.
MLA H D Revanna and his son and Hassan MP Prajwal have been booked for allegedly molesting their cook. In another case, Revanna has been booked and arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman who was allegedly sexually assaulted by Prajwal. A case of rape has also been registered against Prajwal.
Addressing a press conference here, Kumaraswamy said the pen drives were circulated by police officers who were "threatened to do it".
“It (pen drive carrying videos) was released in Bengaluru Rural constituency (where the Congress candidate in the Lok Sabha elections is D K Suresh, who is the brother of Shivakumar). This was an April 21 development. On April 22, Poornachandra, our polling agent, gave a complaint to the District Deputy Commissioner, who is the Returning Officer,” the JD(S) leader said.
“Poornachandra received a message at 8 pm on April 21 asking people to 'follow a WhatsApp channel to see Prajwal Revanna’s sleaze video'. There was a message on this WhatsApp channel, 'Countdown for the release of Prajwal’s sleaze videos'," Kumaraswamy further said.
According to Kumaraswamy, one Naveen Gowda had sent the message about the "countdown".
In his complaint to the Deputy Commissioner and the Superintendent of Police of Hassan district, Poornachandra has named five people including Naveen Gowda, Karthik Gowda (Revanna’s driver), Chethan and Puttaraju alias Putty, he said.
It has been more than a fortnight since the complaint made on April 21 but no action has been taken against these five people, Kumaraswamy said and demanded that they should first be arrested for "mortgaging the modesty" of women in the videos.
Kumaraswamy alleged that 25,000 pen drives were distributed in the entire state, and cited a report in a regional daily to support his claim.
“My question here is why no action was taken. If someone posts something on social media, immediately houses are searched and the person is made to sit in the police station. Why no action was taken against these five people despite a complaint?” he asked.
"Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had confidently said that all the three JD(S) candidates in the Lok Sabha elections will be defeated," Kumaraswamy said, adding, "It raises doubts about the involvement of many people."
On April 25, Karnataka State Commission for Women Chairperson Nagalakshmi Chowdhary wrote to Siddaramaiah demanding an SIT probe into the tapes where Prajwal is allegedly seen sexually abusing several women. The same night, the CM gave his nod and ordered the formation of a SIT, Kumaraswamy said.
“In that letter, Nagalakshmi Chowdhary did not mention the name of Prajwal or Revanna but the chief minister called it ‘Prajwal Revanna’s explicit videos’ in his post on X when he announced the formation of SIT. This shows how the conspiracy was hatched,” the JD(S) leader claimed.
He also alleged that the first complaint "framing" his brother H D Revanna and nephew Prajwal was typed on a computer in Bengaluru and was sent to Holenarasipura, which is represented in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly by Revanna, on April 28.
“It’s not a Special Investigation Team but there are two teams within it – one is ‘Siddaramaiah Investigation Team’ and another one is ‘Shivakumar Investigation Team’,” he charged.
He said the ‘convenor’ of the 'pen drive story', Karthik Gowda should be traced first and brought before the people.
“Going through the conspiracies, one can doubt the intention behind the investigation because more than protecting the women victims, you are limiting the scope of the probe only to defame people,” Kumaraswamy further alleged.
He underlined that he was not trying to protect anyone. “I have said that in this case I will not protect anyone doing wrong. Stringent punishment should be given to the person involved in this crime as per the law of land."
Comments
Oh Prime Minister! we lived peacefully in mangalore for years together.
for the record it was only your party \dirty politics\" that created problems in our city. all religions live in harmony here. it was so unnessasary to create TERROR in hearts of our fellow people by raising the topic of IS which many across the world know already is a lame group which no human want to belong to. just because kasargod and bhatkal has muslim majority it doesnt mean you have to tagline muslims as terrorist..it hurts our sentiments. much more because WE MUSLIMS ARE NOT USED TO LIARS, FORGET TERRORISM. muslims being quite doesnt mean we agree to all that you say. we just dont want to add fuel to the fire that you politicians have ignited! Remember this: that we YOUTH have nothing to look upto in you politicians..you are never going to be our role models regarding peace and ruling a country in a JUST manner. You can never divide the present YOUTH based on our religion!!! never ever dream of!"
but kasargod and bhatkal people and all mangalorean knows ..
rss vhp are in mangalore city they are virus for mangalore and karnataka...
His face only describes the dangerous villain in movies.
It tooks 70 years to hoist the national flag at Nagpur RSS headquarters.
This is a drama by BJP in the name of Tiranga Yatra to fool the innocent people. Real nationalism and patriotism comes from the heart not from the lips. Amith Shah should visit Srirangapattanam to pay tribute to the real hero of the Independence struggle Tippu Sultan before returning to Delhi. Tippu is the only leader you can find in the history died in the battle field fighting against the British for the country.
Pumpwell, Suratkal and Kalladka also in DK Udupi.
This stupid/ Idiot/Hypocrite LIER does not know that the terrorists , who killed Praveen, Prashant, Harish,Baliga and other school girls are also living in Mangalore, which is between Kasargod and Bhatkal.... What is the knowledge of this LAW MINISTER....
Wow a new topic to FOOL the people...I pity those who still believe their lies on blaming the innocent... After all many times they were caught even bomb making , 2 days back in Kasargod right, cheddis bomb exploded ? The devils are happy when the LIES are spread and that too from leaders of the society.
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