Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda’s grandson Prajwal Revanna, an accused in the alleged sex video scandal, will be asked to return to India by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), said Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Monday.
Speaking to media persons, Mr Parameshwara said that an SIT probe would be complete soon and a report is submitted within 10 to 15 days in such cases.
“In this case, the directions have been given on the time frame to the investigation officers. If not for the time frame, the probe will be conducted for years,” he added.
The Home Minister said that an investigation would be conducted and action would be initiated against all the accused mentioned by the victims in the complaint.
“Based on the complaint to the Karnataka State Commission for Women, the state government has formed the SIT led by senior IPS officer B.K. Singh. Two women Superintendents of Police are also part of the team,” he added.
“The state government will not interfere in the probe, it is left to the probe agency to take it forward. The Investigating Officers will take the pen drives containing alleged sex videos which will be sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) for verification. The evidence needed to be collected.”
“According to official information, the main accused Prajwal Revanna had travelled to a foreign country, he will be called back to India by the SIT,” Mr Parameshwara said.
The investigation would be conducted against JD(S) MLA H.D. Revanna against whom the complaint of sexual harassment is lodged separately.
Once the SIT gives a report, the action would be initiated against the accused persons, the Home Minister added.
The SIT officers will probe the matter of the possibility of many more pen drives containing sex videos being prevented from being circulated, Mr Parameshwara said.
The state government is ready to provide security to the complainants and victims if there is a necessity, he added.
Meanwhile, the mother-in-law of one of the victims has said that her daughter-in-law was quiet for five years and lodged a complaint of sexual harassment now.
“Bhavani madam (Prajwal Revanna’s mother) has helped us and she stood with our family. She (daughter-in-law) was taken out forcefully and a complaint was lodged. It is being done to bring disrepute to the Deve Gowda family. This is a false complaint,” she added.
Meanwhile, the SIT has expedited the probe and managed to locate five victims and received information from them after bringing them to the SIT office, sources said.
The victims included government officers and political leaders.
The victims have recorded their statements in front of Superintendent of Police Seema Latkar, sources added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
