Bengaluru: As soon as the suspended JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna landed at the Bengaluru airport from Germany in the wee hours of Friday, there was a posse of women personnel from the Karnataka Police in their civvies, led by women IPS officers, waiting to execute the arrest warrant.
The arrest warrant was pending against him in multiple sexual assault cases which not only embarrassed his party but also attracted the ire of his grandfather and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who had recently issued a 'stern warning' to Prajwal Revanna, asking him to return to the country and face probe into the sexual abuse allegations, while asserting there will be no interference from him or other family members into the enquiry.
Three cases have been registered against him after a huge cache of leaked videos purportedly showing several women being sexually abused by Prajwal.
The 33-year-old grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, who is seeking reelection as an NDA candidate from Hassan, fled the country on April 27 and returned in the early hours of Friday. Soon after he alighted from the plane from Munich in Germany to Bengauru, he was received by women in Khaki, sources in the SIT said.
During the procedure of executing the arrest warrant, he was flanked by the women police who were led by two IPS officers, Suman D Pennekar and Seema Latkar. The Hassan MP was then taken in a jeep in which only women police were there. They took him to the CID office.
"It was a conscious call to send all women officers to arrest Prajwal, sending home a message that the JD(S) leader exploited his seat and power as an MP with women. The same women have authority to arrest him through all legal proceedings," a source in the SIT said. There was also a symbolic message to the victims that women officers were not afraid of anyone, the source said.
A Special Court for Elected Representatives issued an arrest warrant on May 18 against Prajwal Revanna, following an application moved by the SIT. The Congress-led Karnataka government has urged the Centre to cancel his diplomatic passport. The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has served a show-cause notice to Prajwal asking why his diplomatic passport should not be cancelled as sought by the Karnataka government in view of allegations of sexual abuse against him.
The MP, terming the cases against him as false and alleging political conspiracy, had said in a video statement issued earlier this week that he had gone into depression. He had also field an anticipatory bail plea at the Principal City and Sessions Court for Elected Representatives on May 29, which issued a notice to the SIT to file objections, before posting the hearing for Friday.
The scandal has raised a political storm, with the ruling Congress and BJP-JD(S) engaged in a slugfest. While the Congress government has formed a SIT to probe the cases, the BJP and JD(S) -- NDA partners -- have demanded that it be handed over to the CBI, and action be taken against those behind the wide circulation of explicit videos. The cases of sexual abuse came to light after a number of pen drives allegedly containing explicit videos involving Prajwal were reportedly circulated in Hassan, ahead of Lok Sabha polls there on April 26.
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