BENGALURU: At a time when the Karnataka state government have been seemingly making multiple efforts to arrest Prajwal Revanna, the BJP-backed JD(S) candidate from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency who is accused of sexually assaulting hundreds of women, a minister has claimed that the arrest is being delayed due to legal constraints.
Hassan district in-charge Minister K N Rajanna, who is also the Minister for Cooperation, on Saturday, said that the SIT, the state government and the centre know about Prajwal's whereabouts in Germany, where he fled after the allegations had surfaced. He said that despite this, the arrest is taking time as the government is trying to follow the legal procedures.
"The SIT, the state government and the centre know the place and in whose house he (Prajwal) is staying in. They also know his movements since he is an MP. He could be arrested and his passport can be cancelled immediately, but the court may dismiss the case as natural justice is being denied to him (by denying him an opportunity to depose)", Rajanna pointed out.
He claimed that Prajwal's arrest was not being purposefully delayed.
Rajanna's statement comes amid CM Siddaramaiah writing to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to cancel Prajwal's diplomatic passport and MEA reportedly initiating action in that direction.
Former prime minister and grandfather of Prajwal, H D Deve Gowda, had on May 23rd issued a warning to his grandson to return to the country from wherever he is. Former chief minister and uncle of the accused, H D Kumaraswamy, had also appealed to Prajwal to return home immediately and claimed that his family had no information of his whereabouts.
Rajanna alleged that H D Kumaraswamy might have been "the father of the pen drive" that was being circulated and contained the videos of the sexual assault. "Kumaraswamy kept saying often that he had a pen drive.. who knows it might be the same pen drive", Rajanna said.
Responding to Rajanna's statements, BJP leader C T Ravi said that the minister must be investigated for making such claims against Kumaraswamy.
Rajanna also claimed that Prajwal's opponent and Congress candidate Shreyas Patel has an edge in the Hassan LS seat.
"Apart from the five guarantees of the government, the sympathy factor following Patel losing the Holenarasipura assembly seat by a whisker in 2023 polls and his mother losing from the same seat in the past have worked in favour of the Congress candidate", he claimed.
Speaking to reporters, the minister further expressed his desire to lead the Congress party in the state.
"If given an opportunity to serve as the KPCC president, I will quit as minister and contribute to the party's organisation as I have decided not to contest the polls in future", he said.
