Prajwal case: SIT wants me to retract DK Shivakumar from testimony, says whistleblower

In a startling claim, BJP leader G Devaraje Gowda, a whistleblower in Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna's alleged serial sexual abuse case, said Monday that the special investigation team (SIT) is coercing him to exclude his allegations against Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar from his testimony.

Gowda, who is also an advocate, said the Congress government is using the SIT to "turn the probe into different direction" and that attempts were on to frame him for the circulation of the sleaze videos.

"I don't trust this SIT. There's no transparency in the probe. The case must be handed over to the CBI," Gowda said.

"Congress orchestrated the circulation of videos and Shivakumar is the mastermind," Gowda told a news conference. To back his claim, Gowda played an excerpt from an April 29 midnight phone call in which Shivakumar discusses the Prajwal case with him. "This proves Shivakumar's role," he said.

Gowda also played excerpts of phone calls made to him by former MP LR Shivarame Gowda (a former JD(S) leader now with the BJP) asking him not to name Chief Minister Siddaramaiah or Shivakumar in the case.

In December 2023, Gowda had written to BJP state president BY Vijayendra on Prajwal's alleged sex videos. He had even contested (unsuccessfully) the Assembly polls last year as the BJP candidate against Prajwal's father HD Revanna, who is under arrest.

After refusing to "cooperate" with the government, Gowda claimed that a high-level meeting was convened to discuss "how to frame people" in the case. "They want to fix me for circulating the videos and close the case," Gowda said. "Shivakumar, through his aides, offered me a Cabinet rank position in exchange for cooperation. Their only aim is to defame PM Modi and go after the JD(S) that has an alliance with BJP."

Gowda said women are being paid to lodge complaints in the case. "One can go to Arehalli in Belur (Hassan) to confirm this. In a hotel called Sky Bird, what was Congress Hassan MP candidate Shreyas Patel doing with one of the victims?" he said.

"Also, the (sleaze) videos that have come out now are not from the pen drive. A lot of mixing is being done...morphing," Gowda claimed.

Gowda identified SIT officer Suman D Pennekar as the one who asked him to retract his statement against Shivakumar. "This SIT is one-sided. Its officers are under pressure."