Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday categorially rejected the Opposition BJP’s fresh demand to call in the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe the allegations of sexual assault made against Hassan MP and Janata Dal (Secular) leader Prajwal Revanna. Instead, he reiterated his faith in the State police’s Special Investigation Team (SIT), which is currently handling the case.
Asking the BJP why it does not trust the State police, the CM accused the Opposition party of issuing “misleading” statements aimed at causing confusion in people’s minds about the SIT, which he said was conducting a “fair probe”.
‘Faith in State police’
“We are not interfering in the functioning of the police. The police have been given full freedom. We have belief and faith in our police. They are efficient,” Mr. Siddaramaiah said.
Noting that the BJP had once termed the Central agency the ‘Corruption Bureau of Investigation’, the CM pointed out that the party had never handed over a single case to the CBI while it was in power in the State, despite the Congress’ repeated demands.
Defending the SIT probe, Mr. Siddaramaiah said, “It’s not that I don’t have faith in the CBI. When I was the Chief Minister earlier, I had handed seven cases to the CBI, but there was no conviction even in a single one.”
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‘SIT probe biased’
Earlier in the day, BJP leaders — including former CM Basavaraj Bommai and Leader of the Opposition R. Ashok — made a fresh pitch for a CBI probe, alleging that the SIT probe lacked proper direction. Claiming that the probe was not impartial, they accused the SIT of arresting the complainants instead of the accused.
Responding to a question from journalists on the arrest of BJP leader Devaraje Gowda who was allegedly behind the circulation of videos which recorded the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated by Mr. Revanna, the Chief Minister said that “the BJP’s job is to make false accusations”.
Asked about Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s statement accusing the Congress government of a ‘witch hunt’ against BJP workers in connection with the case, Mr. Siddaramaiah noted that Mr. Joshi is a Union Minister and should speak responsibly. “BJP leaders are experts in lying, they only make false accusations,” he said.
