Sex video scandal: War of words between Siddaramaiah & Kumaraswamy turns personal

BENGALURU: The war of words between Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and the former Chief Minister Kumaraswamy in connection with the alleged sex video scandal turned personal on Saturday.

Taking exception to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s statement that former Prime Minister H.D. Deve Gowda had sent his grandson, sex video scandal prime accused Prajwal Revanna to a foreign country, Kumaraswamy questioned whether Siddaramaiah had sent his “son abroad to die”.

“Whoever it is, pain is pain. An incident occurred in your (CM Siddaramaiah’s) family. Did you send him abroad? Are you responsible for his death?” Kumaraswamy said.

He said all leaders are talking about the diplomatic passport but they have no knowledge of the law as a diplomatic passport cannot be revoked immediately.

Addressing Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D.K Shivakumar as “CD Shivu,” Kumaraswamy said that the person needs not to be addressed as Shivakumar. “He should be addressed as CD Shivu. Why did you talk to broker Shivaramegowda (former Congress MP)?” Kumaraswamy asked.

“If Shivakumar has no role, why did he speak with BJP leader G. Devaraje Gowda and Shivaramegowda to malign the Deve Gowda family? He is carrying out the work of a ‘pimp’ and a ‘broker,’” Kumaraswamy said.

He said that the Home Minister should conduct the investigation in an unbiased manner. “Let them take action against the real culprit, we don’t have any objections,” he said.

Responding to the allegations, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said that it has been eight years since the death of Rakesh Siddaramaiah (his son).

“To bring up the matter now is foolishness. They are doing it for political reasons. He died in 2016, what is the relevance now? The case against his elder brother’s son is of rape,” the Chief Minister said.

He said that under which section is it said that distribution of videos is a more serious crime than committing rape? “Which IPC section explains this? The punishment is given under the IPC sections, and Kumaraswamy is referring to which section?” the Chief Minister asked.

“Kumaraswamy says that exposing victims is a more serious offence than rape. I want to ask which IPC section deals with this offence. Let him explain if he has any new criminal law of his own,” the Chief Minister said.

He said that the Ministry of External Affairs has issued the passport to Prajwal Revanna and it has to cancel it. “It has been 15 days since we wrote a letter to the ministry. The SIT also wrote a letter. What more do they want? They should not keep finding faults with the investigation,” the Chief Minister said.