Bengaluru, Oct 14 — Karnataka Water Resources Minister N. Cheluvarayaswamy on Wednesday accused Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel H.D. Kumaraswamy of showing sympathy towards rape accused former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna while ignoring the plight of the women allegedly victimised by him in the Hassan pen drive case.
It can be noted that former JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna is Kumaraswamy's nephew. Prajwal Revanna, who is also the grandson of former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda, is convicted in a rape case and currently lodged in Bengaluru Central Jail.
Cheluvarayaswamy said Kumaraswamy should file a complaint if he had information about those responsible for distributing the pen drives, assuring that action would be taken and an investigation could be initiated.
“H.D. Kumaraswamy seems to think Prajwal Revanna is an innocent boy. He asks who was behind the Hassan pen drive controversy. Let him file a complaint against those who distributed the pen drives, and action can be taken. If he files a complaint, I will personally request the Chief Minister to order an investigation,” Cheluvarayaswamy said.
The Minister said the Union Minister appeared to have sympathy for Prajwal Revanna but not for the hundreds of women who allegedly suffered injustice because of him.
“He has sympathy for Prajwal Revanna, but not for the hundreds of women who suffered injustice because of him. What about the lives of those women? Where are they today? What is the condition of their families? What has happened to their personal lives? Does he know the hell they are going through?” he asked.
Cheluvarayaswamy said the Congress had refrained from repeatedly raising the Hassan case, considering its sensitivity, but accused Kumaraswamy of bringing up the issue repeatedly.
It can be recalled that Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Steel, H.D. Kumaraswamy, on Tuesday questioned the timing of developments related to rape accused former MP, Prajwal Revanna’s prison transfer, alleging that such issues were being brought to the fore to divert public attention when matters such as the Bidadi farmers’ protest came up for discussion.
Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Kumaraswamy asked what the authorities had been doing for nearly one-and-a-half years regarding the alleged incidents at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison and why the issue surfaced when the Bidadi farmers’ protest began.
Referring to media reports about Prajwal Revanna being shifted to Hindalga prison and subsequently brought back, he sought clarity on who had ordered the transfer, who had directed his return and who had made the relevant phone calls. He urged the state government to provide answers.
Kumaraswamy clarified that he had not criticised the formation of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the Prajwal Revanna case. However, he insisted that the same level of seriousness should be shown in other cases as well.
Questioning the progress of the investigation into the circulation of pen drives linked to the case, he asked how many people had been arrested for producing and distributing them, how many women had filed complaints and what the investigation had revealed.