Union Minister Joshi’s brother, nephew held for duping ex-MLA

Sunitha Chavan, wife of Devanand Phool Singh Chauhan, a former JD(S) MLA from Nagtan in Vijayapura district, had filed the complaint, alleging that Gopal Joshi had promised her husband a BJP Lok Sabha ticket for the Bijapur constituency and collected money.

Police sources said Gopal Joshi was tracked down at his friend’s home and arrested along with his son Ajay.

The Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines clarified he had no sister. He had already clarified that he had disowned his brother (Gopal Joshi) more than three decades ago, and said he had filed an affidavit in the court and also published a public notice saying that anyone claiming to be his brother, relatives or friends and indulging in any financial business will not be a binding on him.

Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s brother Gopal Joshi in police custody in Hubballi on Saturday. (PTI Photo)

“Let legal action be taken if Gopal Joshi is found guilty. I do not know whether he took money promising a BJP ticket and this is a matter of investigation,” Joshi had said in Delhi on Friday.

According to the police complaint, Shekhar Nayak, an engineer in Belagavi district, got Chauhan in touch with Joshi, with an assurance that the latter could secure a BJP ticket since BJP and JD(S) were allies in Lok Sabha polls.

Gopal Joshi demanded Rs 5 crore to secure a ticket by allegedly flaunting his influence claiming that his brother’s connection with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah could be leveraged, it said.

The Chauhans declined the offer but Gopal Joshi continued to pursue them and sought an initial payment of Rs 25 lakh, which was delivered to Vijayalakshmi’s residence in Bengaluru’s Basaveshwara Nagar, and Gopal allegedly made a call to a person he claimed was Shah’s secretary to reassure Sunitha Chavan, it said.

Gopal Joshi also allegedly obtained a cheque for Rs 5 crore from the Chauhans as a “security” to be encashed after the party would give the ticket.

But when the poll ticket was not given and Gopal Joshi was confronted, he returned the cheque but claimed he would be unable to repay Rs 25 lakh, it said. He claimed a pending government project worth Rs 200 crore would yield funds that will be used to return the money to the Chauhans, it said. According to the police complaint, Gopal Joshi also collected Rs 2.25 crore from Sunitha Chauhan promising to return it in 20 days when the contract is in hand. However, despite repeated efforts when the money was not returned, Sunitha went to Vijayalakshmi’s home on August 1, where she was allegedly physically assaulted and subjected to caste abuse.