Take swift action to cancel diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna: Siddaramaiah to PM Modi
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who is facing allegations of sexually abusing several women, used his diplomatic passport to travel abroad, and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take swift action to cancel it.
In a letter to Modi, he also asked the PM to take other steps such as using diplomatic and police channels of the Government of India as well as international police agenciesto ensure the swift return of the "absconding" member of parliament to face the full force of the law.
The 33-year-old Prajwal Revanna is the son of H D Deve Gowda's elder son H D Revanna, who is an MLA and a former minister.
Prajwal is the BJP-JD(S) alliance's candidate from Hassan, which went to the polls on Friday.
Explicit video clips allegedly of Prajwal Revanna sexually abusing several women had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days, following which the state government constituted a SIT to investigate the crime allegedly involving the MP.
"According to reports, sensing the impending police case and arrest, the accused Member of Parliament and NDA candidate for Lok Sabha Prajwal Revanna has fled the country and travelled abroad on April 27 itself. It is learnt from reports that he is travelling abroad on his diplomatic passport," Siddaramaiah said.
He said that while the SIT is working round the clock to investigate the allegations of crimes against several women by Prajwal Revanna, getting him back to the country is of utmost importance so that he faces investigation and trial as per the law of the land.
"In this regard, this is to urge you kindly to move the Ministries of External Affairs and Home Affairs to take swift action to cancel the diplomatic passport of Prajwal Revanna and to take such other steps using diplomatic and police channels of the Government of India as well as international police agencies to ensure the swift return of the absconding Member of Parliament to face the full force of law," the CM said in the letter.
The SIT of Karnataka will provide all the necessary details and fulfil all the legal formalities required in this regard, he added.
JD(S) on Tuesday suspended Prajwal Revanna from the party following the allegations.
Stating that there is a serious case of alleged sexual exploitation of innumerable women by Prajwal Revanna, Siddaramaiah said the allegations that the MP and NDA candidate for Hassan Lok Sabha is facing are "horrific and shameful" and these have shaken the conscience of the country.
"Our Government has constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), on April 28, under the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and investigation has begun in right earnest. Constitution of the SIT was done as soon as the true nature of the alleged crimes against several women emerged and the victims came forward to file complaints against Prajwal Revanna and an FIR was lodged on April 28," he added.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
