New Delhi:

After media reports linked Union minister Pralhad Joshi to his brother Gopal Joshi, who has been arrested for allegedly cheating a former MLA’s wife of Rs 2 crore, the minister has clarified that the two have been separated for 32 years. 

Gopal Joshi, his son Ajay Joshi and a woman named Vijayalakshmi Joshi were charged by the Bengaluru Police in the cheating case filed by Sunita Chavan, wife of former Janata Dal (Secular) Nagthan MLA Devanand Phool Singh Chavan, who lost the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections.

She alleged that Gopal Joshi cheated her of Rs 2 crore on the pretext of securing a BJP ticket for a member of her family to contest the Lok Sabha elections this year. She also alleged that Vijayalakshmi was introduced to her as Pralhad Joshi’s sister.

Gopal Joshi was arrested on Saturday. 

In a post on X, Pralhad Joshi, who holds the Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution and New and Renewable Energy portfolios, said he had filed a civil suit in November 2013 in the City Civil Court, Bengaluru, stating that he and Gopal Joshi had been separated for 20 years at the time, making the period of their separation 32 years as of 2024. 

“In 2012, a Family Arraignment Deed (Vaivastha Pathra) was executed to specify that we do not constitute any joint family status or any joint transaction socially and financially,” the minister emphasised, adding that he had got a public caution notice issued in the newspapers in 2012.

Mr Joshi also said that he has only two brothers – a third had died in an accident – and no sister. “The mention of Vijayalakshmi Joshi as my sister is totally false,” he said. 

The minister also rubbished the allegation that the complainant Sunitha Chavan had visited his office with his estranged brother.