By : Shrishti Mehra
Siddaramaiah responded angrily to the comments, calling it ‘foolishness’ on Kumaraswamy’s part to bring up the loss of his son.
The murder of Siddaramaiah’s son in a foreign nation eight years ago was brought up by senior JD(S) politician H D Kumaraswamy on Saturday. He wanted to know why the Karnataka Chief Minister had not ordered an investigation into the incident. Siddaramaiah responded angrily to the comments, calling it ‘foolishness’ on Kumaraswamy’s part to bring up the loss of his son.
On July 30, 2016, while serving as Chief Minister for the first time, Rakesh Siddaramaiah passed away in Belgium from multiple organ failure. Reacting angrily to Siddaramaiah’s remark that Hassan JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna left the country knowing that members of his family, including his grandfather H D Deve Gowda, knew of his whereabouts, Kumaraswamy said that except for stoking the controversy, nothing is being done to uncover the truth about the sexual abuse case.
“The son of the Chief Minister had also traveled overseas and experienced an incident. For what event had he gone? Has he obtained Siddaramaiah’s approval?” Inquiring, Kumaraswamy said to the reporters. “Why didn’t Siddaramaiah order an investigation into Rakesh’s death? Why was it concealed? Was he sent overseas by the CM?” Additionally, Kumaraswamy requested information from the Chief Minister regarding the number of people Rakesh traveled with in 2016 while abroad.
Kumaraswamy said that his family was being politically “finished off” through the Prajwal sexual assault case. Prajwal (33), an NDA candidate from the Hassan Lok Sabha segment and the grandson of JD(S) founder H D Deve Gowda, is accused of having sexually assaulted multiple women. A day after Hassan went to the polls on April 27, Prajwal apparently departed for Germany and is still at large. Interpol has previously issued a “Blue Corner Notice” asking for information regarding his whereabouts in response to a request made by the SIT through the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On the SIT’s request, a Special Court for Elected Representatives issued an arrest warrant for Prajwal. According to Kumaraswamy, there was criminal activity undertaken by individuals who shared the purported Prajwal recordings without masking the victims’ faces. He questioned if the mastermind’ behind the obscene video leak was aware of the repercussions. Siddaramaiah responded by stating, “Rakesh had passed away eight years prior. He is being stupid by bringing up Rakesh’s case.”
He charged Kumaraswamy of politicising the prosecution of Rakesh’s killing. “In 2016, Ramesh Siddaramaiah passed away. What relationship exists between that case and the one Prajwal is in? Prajwal, the nephew of Kumaraswamy, is a rapist “declared the CM. Siddaramaiah questioned whether section of the Indian Penal Code the circulated and uploaded movies under, in response to Kumaraswamy’s claim that doing so was illegal. “While I do not deny that it is wrong to share films without hiding the identities of the victims, Kumaraswamy claims that the issue of my son’s death is more significant than the Prajwal rape. “I would like to know which part of the Indian Penal Code or any other criminal law makes Rakesh’s death an offence,” he continued.