Pramesh S Jain & Yogesh K Porwar
A
fter Bengaluru Police filed an FIR against Prahlad Joshi’s brother Gopal,Team Pralhad Joshi released a document of 2012 where Pralhad Joshi had claimed that he doesn’t have any connection with his brother and has been separated for over 20 years.
Union Minister Prahlad Joshi’s brother Gopal Joshi was among the three booked by the Basaveshwaranagar police for allegedly cheating by offering a ticket in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and hurling casteist slurs.
The FIR has named Gopal (A1),Vijayalakshmi Joshi (A2) and Ajay Joshi(A3). Vijayalakshmi is Prahlad’s sister and Ajay is Gopal’s son, the FIR regsitered on October 17 noted.
According to the FIR,one Shekhar Nayak,who is the acquaintance of the complainant Sunitha Chauvan and her husband and former Nagthan JD(S) MLA Devanand Phool Singh Chauhan,told them that he knew Gopal and would get them a Lok Sabha seat.
Sunitha told the police that Nayak took her and Chauhan to Gopal’s house in Hubballi in March 2024.After meeting Gopal, they went to Prahlad’s office,the FIR noted.
Here,Gopal allegedly told the duo that Prahlad had a good standing with the Central leaders and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah listened to him.Gopal further told them to keep Rs. 5 crore ready for the seat.
As per the FIR,the duo rejected the offer and returned home.Gopal allegedly called Chavan again only to hear his rejection.
According to Sunitha,Gopal called her separately and told her not to miss the opportunity.Sunitha was also allegedly told the same by Nayak.
She sought some time and borrowed Rs.25 lakh from friends and family and visited Vijayalakshmi’s house in Basaveshwara Nagar.At Gopal’s behest,Sunitha handed over the sum to Vijayalakshmi, the FIR noted.
Shortly Gopal arrived and allegedly called Shah’s personal secretary and told Sunitha that everything was in order.As further security, he also took a cheque of Rs 5 crore,the FIR noted.
Sunitha told the police that they didn’t get the party ticket and when they asked Gopal,he set up a meeting at Vijayalakshmi’s house.
While Gopal returned the cheque, he said that a Rs.200 crore project bill was pending with the government and hence he couldn’t return Rs 25 lakh.
Gopal allegedly told Sunitha to arrange Rs 1.75 crore, which would be returned in 20 days, after he showed documents for the project.
Sunitha arranged the money, which was wired to Vijayalakshmi’s bank account,at Gopal’s behest, the FIR noted.
While Gopal didn’t return the money even after a month, he allegedly gave false assurances.The FIR also noted that Ajay claimed to be the surety and that they wouldn’t be cheated.
In the first week of August,when Sunitha went to Vijayalakshmi’s house, she was allegedly assaulted and abused with casteist slurs.Sunitha also told the police that some goons threatened her and her son.
The case was registered under BNS sections, including cheating, criminal breach of trust and criminal conspiracy. Sections of the SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act were also invoked.
