NEW DELHI/BENGALURU: The external affairs ministry has received a request from the Karnataka government to cancel the diplomatic passport of Janata Dal (Secular) MP and alleged sex offender Prajwal Revanna, and the matter is being “processed”, said people familiar with the matter.
“The ministry has received a letter from the Karnataka government for cancellation of diplomatic passport in respect of MP Prajwal Revanna. It is being processed,” said one of the persons, who did not wish to be identified.
Revanna, who is seeking re-election to the Lok Sabha from Hassan as NDA candidate, left the country a day after the April 26 polls using a diplomatic passport.
With pressure mounting to nab absconding Revanna, who is wanted in cases of alleged sexual abuse of women, the Karnataka government wrote to the external affairs ministry seeking a cancellation of his diplomatic passport on the basis of an arrest warrant.
The external affairs ministry had earlier said that a passport could be revoked if a requisite judicial order was obtained in this regard from a court. “As far as the matter of revoking a diplomatic passport of a person is concerned, it comes under the Passport Act of 1967. And as per its provisions, a direction should come from the court. Only then it can be revoked,” the ministry’s official spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said earlier this month.
Earlier on Wednesday, Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah wrote a second letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging him to take “prompt and necessary” action to cancel Revanna’s diplomatic passport and help the state government secure his return to the country. “It is disheartening that my previous letter raising similar concerns on the issue has not, to the best of my knowledge, been acted upon despite the gravity of the situation,” the CM said in a two-page letter.
