Prajwal Revanna went to Germany on diplomatic passport, no political clearance sought: MEA 

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Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna, implicated in a sexual abuse case, used a diplomatic passport to travel to Germany, as confirmed by the Ministry of External Affairs on Thursday (May 2).

The Ministry clarified that neither did he seek nor was granted political clearance for his trip to the country. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal mentioned during a press briefing that the Ministry did not issue any visa note for the MP to visit any other country.

“No political clearance was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect of the travel of the said MP to Germany. Obviously, no visa note was issued either. No visa is required for diplomatic passport holders to travel to Germany. The Ministry has also not issued any visa note for any other country for the said MP…Yes, he travelled on a diplomatic passport,” said Jaiswal.

The explanation follows a day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah penned a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, requesting the Centre to revoke Prajwal’s diplomatic passport and facilitate his repatriation through diplomatic and law enforcement channels.

The letter came while Prajwal, who is the grandson of JD(S) founder and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, asked for seven more days to meet the Special Investigation Team (SIT) looking into the sexual abuse claims against him. On the same day, the SIT sent notices to Prajwal and his father H D Revanna, who were accused based on a complaint from one of the women involved.

What’s the case?

Many videos claiming to show Prajwal Revanna sexually abusing women have spread in Karnataka, causing anger.

Allegations against Revanna surfaced initially in June last year. However, he obtained a court order preventing media coverage of what were termed as “edited videos.”

Just five days before the 26th April elections in Hassan, where Revanna is running for reelection as an MP, thousands of USB drives were distributed in public places like bus stops and parks. These clips, reportedly recorded by Revanna himself, displayed the faces of the women he allegedly abused.

Following a complaint from one woman, Nagalakshmi Chaudhary, the head of Karnataka’s women’s commission, wrote to the state police chief, urging action against the offenders.

The woman claimed she decided to come forward after watching clips of other victims online.

With inputs from agencies)