Bengaluru Police arrest Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s brother for cheating woman of Rs 2 crore

Gopal Joshi and a woman named Vijayalakshmi Joshi were booked by Basaveshwaranagar police on Thursday evening. Gopal’s son Ajay Joshi has also been named in the FIR.

The complaint was filed by Sunita Chavan, wife of former Nagthan MLA Devavand Phool Singh Chavan, who lost the 2023 Assembly elections.

She alleged that Gopal Joshi had cheated her of Rs two crore on the pretext of getting her family a BJP ticket to contest the Lok Sabha elections in May.

The complainant also alleged that Vijayalakshmi was introduced to her as Pralhad Joshi’s sister.

However, the Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines made it clear that he had no sister. He said he has only three brothers, one of whom died in a road accident in Maharashtra’s Ahmednagar in 1984.

The minister had clarified that he had disowned his brother (Gopal Joshi) over thirty years ago, saying that he had filed an affidavit in the court and also issued a public notice saying that anyone who claims to be his brother, to be relatives or friends and indulge in any financial sector will not be binding on him.

Meanwhile, the investigating police team took Gopal Joshi to his Indira Colony residence in Hubballi for on-site inspection. PTI