Bengaluru: In a fresh development in the Karnataka sex tapes scandal allegedly involving tainted JDS leader HD Revanna and his son and primary accused Prajwal Revanna, advocate and BJP leader Devaraje Gowda on Friday made some explosive allegations in the matter, claiming that he was offered Rs 100 crore by Deputy Chief Minister of Karnataka and Congress leader DK Shivakumar, who had reportedly instructed him to spread the narrative that HD Kumaraswamy had distributed the pen drive containing the explicit videos of the alleged assault against multiple women.

Alleging that the Congress leader wanted to tarnish the BJP's image by maligning Prime Minister Narendra Modi and HD Kumaraswamy, Devaraje Gowda claimed that four ministers were behind the conspiracy, including Priyank Kharge, Chaluvaraya Swamy, Krishna Byre Gowda and one other minister.

Shivakumar wanted to destroy Kumaraswamy’s political career, Devaraje Gowda further alleged, adding that the Congress leaders in the state tried every bit to paint the BJP in a bad light and bring about a bad reputation for PM Modi and Kumaraswamy.

"DK Shivakumar had called and spoken to me…They wanted me to put the blame on Kumaraswamy for distributing the pen drive, and they also promised to secure me", he told Republic.

Claiming that he was offered heaps of cash to spin the narrative in the sleaze tapes scandal, Devaraje Gowda further stressed that DKS was responsible for getting the pen drive from Karthik.

"They [Congress leadership in the state] had offered me Rs 100 crore and had even sent Gopalswamy from Channarayapatna to hand me over an advance of rupees five crore in room no 110 of the Bowring Club", he claimed, adding, “DKS offered me money through LR Shivarame Gowda".

The main motive behind the offering, Devaraje Gowda asserted, was to tarnish HD Kumaraswamy's name and image in Karnataka.

“DKS was the one who offered me Rs 100 crore in cash, only because they [Karnataka Congress] wanted to bring a bad name to PM Modi, by concocting a false narrative suggesting that he was behind the scam”, he further told Republic.

Underlining that upon his refusal to accept the offered sum of money, the Congress leadership in the state tried to “fix me in an atrocity case”, Gowda said, “They could not gather any concrete evidence”, adding, "They then made another woman file a sexual assault case, and even that didn't work out".

They [Karnataka Congress] invoked a rape case, but they haven't got any evidence to prove it despite four days of investigation in police custody, he said.

He made an appeal to the SP and the IG to take the allegations seriously, and said the police officials have seized a pen drive which has details related to the kidnapping of Karthik's wife and the CCTV footage from Karthik's house.

“The pen drive which has been seized only has the video related to the kidnapping of Karthik's wife. However, I have all the video and audio files”, Gowda claimed, while stressing that the Congress government in the state "will collapse" once he comes out after getting released.