Karnataka: Union Minister's Brother Held for Cheating

Bengaluru: Basaveshwaranagar police of Bengaluru city on Saturday arrested Gopal Joshi, elder brother of Prahalad Joshi, Union Minister of Consumer Affairs, on charge of cheating Sunitha Chavan, a Bharatiya Janata Party ticket aspirant and wife of former Janata Dal Secular (JDS) MLA Devanand Phool Singh Chavan of money. Sunitha’s husband Devanand Cjhavan represented Nagathana in Vijayapura district from 2018-2023.

After an FIR was registered, Gopal Joshi was reportedly absconding and police arrested him at a lodge in Kolhapur of Maharashtra. He was ferried to Bengaluru. Police on Thursday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Gopal Joshi and named him accused 1 in the cheating on a complaint filed by Sunitha Chavan. In the FIR, Gopal Joshi’s son Ajay is named as accused while Vijayalakshmi said to be sister of Prahalad Joshi is the accused 3.

In the FIR, Sunitha Chavan alleged she was introduced to Gopal Joshi by an engineer Shekar Nayak working in Belagavi in a bid to secure Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket to contest Vijayapura Lok Sabha seat reserved for Scheduled Castes.

According to the FIR, Gopal Joshi is alleged to have lured Sunitha Chavan stating that his younger brother Prahalad Joshi is close to Prime Minister Narendra and Union Home Minister Amit Shah and both will not turn down the request of Prahalad Joshi.

In the meeting, she alleged Gopal Joshi put forth a demand of Rs 5 crore for her to secure a ticket and she turned it down considering the amount demanded was high for her to meet. Later, Gopal Joshi asked Sunitha Chavan for Rs 25 lakh in cash and a cheque as security to pursue her case. The remaining amount to be paid once the ticket is cleared.

After arranging Rs 25 lakh cash, the FIR said, Gopal Joshi asked Sunitha to hand over the cash and cheque to his sister Vijayalakshmi at her residence in Basaveshwara Nagar in Bengaluru city. The cash was handed over to Vijayalakshmi on the directions of Gopal Joshi, as per the FIR filed by Sunitha.

However, the FIR said, she missed BJP ticket contesting Vijayapura Lok Sabha seat and when she demanded Gopal Joshi to return her money. While, the FIR said, Gopal Joshi returned the cheque given by her as security and assured her to return the money of Rs 25 lakh once his bills are cleared.

The FIR stated Gopal Joshi again placed a demand for Rs 1.75 lakh from Sunitha and she arranged Rs 1.75 lakh to Gopal Joshi. The amount of Rs 1.25 crore was transferred to the account of Vijayalakshmi as per the directions of Gopal Joshi and another Rs 50 lakh was handed over to Vijayalakshmi in cash.

At the time of availing money from Sunitha, the FIR stated, Gopal Joshi had assured to return the money back in 20 days but never made return except for assurances.

In August this year, the FIR said, Sunitha Chavan stated to have approached Vijayalakshmi at her residence in Basaveshwara Nagar to demand her money back. But, Sunitha alleged she was driven away by Vijayalaskhmi and also abused her.