An FIR was registered against Union Minister Prahlad Joshi’s elder brother and younger sister in an alleged “bribe-for-ticket” scam, following a complaint by the wife of a former JDS MLA, who accused Joshi’s kin of cheating, criminal breach of trust and making casteist slurs.
Sunita Chavan, wife of Devanand Fulasing Chavan (54), belonging to the Lambani (ST) community, lodged a complaint with the Basaveshwara Nagar (Bengaluru) police on October 17, alleging that the minister’s brother Gopal Joshi had swindled Rs 2 crore promising her husband a ticket to contest in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
According to the FIR, Devanand, who had won from Nagathan seat in 2018, was defeated in 2023. The couple had met Gopal Joshi through an acquaintance Shekhar Nayak (engineer in Athani, Belagavi), who told them that Prahlad Joshi had a “good equation” with both Narendra Modi and Amit Shah and would help him get a Lok Sabha ticket. Gopal demanded Rs 2 crore from the couple. But they expressed their inability to give such a huge amount and finally agreed to give Rs 25 lakh.
They gave the money along with a signed cheque for Rs 5 crore as surety to Gopal. The meeting had taken place at Vijayalakshmi’s house in Bengaluru, where Gopal had pretended to call the BJP leader Amit Shah’s personal secretary to confirm the ticket.
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After the couple failed to get the ticket, they asked Gopal to return the money and the cheque. But Gopal told them that he would be bagging a big contract and would return their money within 20 days. He also convinced them to part with another Rs 1.75 crore, assuring them he would return all the money and also fund his election in future. Ajay Joshi, son of Gopal also promised that he would return the money and there was nothing to fear. After a month, when the couple visited Vijayalakshmi’s house to ask for their money, they were allegedly thrown out of the house by Vijayalakshmi, who insulted their caste too.
An FIR has been registered under the Bharathiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 126(2), 115(2), 118 (1), 316(2), 318(4), 61, 3(5) and SC and ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.
