Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who faces charges of sexually abusing several women, is set to return to India from Germany. This comes after earlier this week he announced in a video statement that he would return on May 31 and appear before a Special Investigative Team (SIT) probing the case. The Karnataka government warned that actions such as passport cancellation would be taken if he failed to return as promised.
Reports indicated that Revanna had boarded a flight from Munich to India, scheduled to arrive after midnight.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) confirmed that the process of cancelling Revanna's diplomatic passport had begun and a show cause notice had been issued to him. "MEA has initiated action under provisions in the Passport Act 1967 for revocation of the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna. A show cause notice was issued to the passport holder on May 23, giving him 10 working days to respond to our notice. We are waiting for a response and will take further action as per the rules, said MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal.
On Wednesday, Prajwal Revanna filed an anticipatory bail application in the sexual assault case at the Bengaluru sessions court. Congress leader and Karnataka Minister Priyank Kharge criticised Revanna, saying, "I'm quite surprised that he remained silent when videos went viral when a complaint was filed by the victims, and when the pen drives were being distributed, suddenly, his consciousness wakes up and he says I was depressed and isolated. If you see the video closely, it doesn't look like a person in depression is speaking. He did not say a word about the victims. He could have said the same thing on Days 1, and 2. Why did it take him 30 days? If you look from a bird's eye view, you'll know that the BJP is directing everything".
The police were on alert of Prajwal's arrival, with a team of SIT officials stationed at the airport. Karnataka Home Minister G Parameswara stated that if Prajwal arrived, he would be arrested and the legal process would be initiated. Immigration officials at the airport would detain him and hand him over to the SIT, as a lookout notice has been issued against him. If he did not arrive, the government would again press for cancellation of his passport.
Prajwal Revanna, 33, is the grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Dewe Gowda. Interpol had also issued a Blue Corner Notice seeking information on his whereabouts.