NEW DELHI: The ministry of external affairs (MEA) on Thursday said suspended JD(S) politician
Prajwal Revanna
, accused of
sexual harassment
of several women, did not seek political clearance from the ministry for his trip to
Germany
. The
MEA
also confirmed that he had travelled on a
diplomatic passport
.
While the ministry had not issued any
visa note
for the
Hassan MP
, a reciprocal agreement between India and Germany allows all Indian diplomatic passport holders to visit Germany for three months without a visa.
“No political clearance was either sought from or issued by MEA in respect of the travel of the said MP to Germany. No visa note was issued either,” MEA spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said. “No visa is required for diplomatic passport holders to travel to Germany. The ministry has not issued visa note for any other country,” he added.
Asked if Prajwal’s passport will be revoked, the official said the ministry had not received any instruction from any court in that regard.
Prajwal, the grandson of former Prime Minister and JD(S) chief H D Deve Gowda, is accused of sexual harassment of several women and is believed to be in Germany. Karnataka govt has set up a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the allegations against him.
While Prajwal was required to seek political clearance because he was using his diplomatic passport, he chose not to do so. The immigration staff at the airport can stop a person from leaving only if there’s a look-out notice issued against him.
Book Amit Shah, demands Rahul Gandhi
Congress’s Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged Prajwal Revanna “raped 400 women” and accused PM Modi of endorsing him by soliciting votes for him.
Addressing poll rallies at Shivamogga and Raichur, Rahul demanded registration of a case against home minister Amit Shah’s as “he was aware of the case and could have got Prajwal arrested, but allowed him to flee the country”.
Earlier, Shah said it was a law and order issue, which is under the state govt. Karnataka’s Congress govt was aware of the issue but didn’t initiate any action till Vokkaligas had voted and allowed a ‘heinous criminal’ to flee, Shah said.
