Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s brother held for Rs 2 crore fraud

The police on Saturday arrested Union Minister Pralhad Joshi’s brother based on a cheating complaint lodged by a former JD(S) MLA’s wife.

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

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

She alleged that Gopal Joshi duped her of Rs 2 crore on the pretext of securing her family a BJP ticket to contest the May Lok Sabha elections.

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

However, the Union Minister of Parliamentary Affairs, Coal and Mines clarified 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 already clarified that he 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.

Meanwhile, the investigating police team brought Gopal Joshi to his Indira Colony residence in Hubballi for spot inspection.