Former Karnataka chief minister HD Kumaraswamy on Monday distanced himself and his father HD Devegowda from Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who has been embroiled in a sex scandal. Kumaraswamy is the uncle of Revanna, whose alleged sex videos with "thousands" were circulated in the region.
“SIT has been formed to probe the case. Whoever has done the mistake must be punished for it. Let the truth come out,” said Kumaraswamy, adding that neither his nor his father's name should be brought into the scandal involving the JDS MP.
“Do not bring my name or Devegowda’s name into it as we respect women. We learned about the Revanna issue now and had we known about it earlier, we would have initiated action. The videos have caused embarrassment to the family and society” the JDS chief said.
Kumaraswamy's reaction came a day after the Congress alleged that "a pen drive full of pornographic videos" showed that "MP and NDA candidate Prajwal Revanna sexually assaulted thousands of women and recorded objectionable videos of them".
Amid the calls from the JDS worker to sack 33-year-old Prajwal, the Karnataka government formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the allegations. The move came after the government received a petition from Nagalakshmi Chaudhary, chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Women over the videos purported showing Revanna with the victims.
Chaudhary's letter to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and state police chief Alok Mohan prompted the probe, which will examine the authenticity of the explicit videos and allegations of sexual assault.
Meanwhile, Prajwal reportedly fled the country to Germany amid the scandal.