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
Dear Ahmed
Learn the beauty of islam and its sharia law before commenting on islam. I think you are a name sake Muslim.
I read all negative comments id another news portal. Wo... where are comments are from non-muslims who do not know sharia law and just want to comment for the heck of it and put muslims in bad face by not writing the full facts as Mr. Masood mentioned that the girls can approach the kazi or ulemas. 95% of the comments are from non-muslims who should not interfere in our religion rights and try to amend theirs.
Ahmed, finally a sane voice from Muslim side ref UCC
I strongly feel ucc is the need of the hour. We are not supporters of bjp but somewhere we feel it is must .I met many Indians including Christians and Sikhs. Absolutely no opposition from their side .if we want our own laws then better to migrate for sharia backed country. If we have firm faith in sharia then even in criminal laws we must ask sharia laws .where as we want secular and general laws.we Muslims have lot of priorities. . concentrate on education ,quality employement and we must encourage young entrepreneurs ,we should bring down illiteracy rates ...our gals and boys must enter civil services in large no and our people must be in isro as scientists .. Dream in that way guys. Let us respect women feeling ....I can challenge non of the above are 100% true Muslims.... We Muslims must join mainstream .if not days are really going to be tough in India .whether we accept it or not RSS power quadrappled in past few years and pm has firm grip .we must accept the fact that bjp simply don't care for our votes. When we deal with bjp we cannot behave like the way we dealt with congress .we were vote bank for congress.they listen to us .we must also take a note on diminishing power of congress ....let us respect the rule of land. Jai hind ...proud Muslim from surathkal
The person who is not respecting his own wife (Modi) is talking about women's protection, what a shit....these are all hidden agenda of panties....so called chaddies....now panties...
Rightly said it is need of the hour.
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