Hubballi, Oct 19 (IANS): There is no role of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi in the alleged BJP ticket scam, the complainant in the case, Sunitha Chouhan, clarified on Saturday.
Speaking to the media in Hubballi, she said, “I want to share this with media persons. It is my request. You can make the reports on the person named in the FIR. There is no role of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi.”
“I am not feeling right about the comments made against Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP high command. There is no role of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi. I don’t want to take his name and neither wish to drag him into the matter. He is a good person,” she reiterated.
Explaining the scam, she said, “Someone called me through a person named Shekar Nayak when I was sure of not getting a ticket. At that point, Gopal Joshi (the brother of Pralhad Joshi) called me from his mobile and told me that the present MP was unwell and he also discussed many other things which I didn’t want to discuss. He told me that I could get a ticket.”
“He demanded me for Rs 25 lac and I had given it to him. When he failed to get the ticket for me and did not return the money also, I approached the police department. If he had returned the money, why should I have come here?” she maintained.
When asked how much money was demanded, she said that they had demanded Rs 2-3 crore. We had come back rejecting the offer, she claimed.
Meanwhile, the police have arrested Gopal Joshi, the brother of Union Minister Pralhad Joshi in connection with the case. The police stated that Gopal Joshi was arrested in Kolhapur in Maharashtra.
Police stated that he was hiding in a lodge in Kolhapur and was arrested early in the morning. The police had brought the complainant Sunitha Chouhan to the residence of Gopal Joshi and conducted mahajar (investigation at the crime scene).
Union Minister for Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs Pralhad Joshi, while reacting to the FIR against his brother in Bengaluru, clarified that he has no connection with him or the case of cheating linked to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and dubbed the Congress' demand for his resignation as foolishness.
During an interaction with IANS, Joshi spoke about the allegations related to the BJP ticket scam case registered in Bengaluru.
He reiterated that not only Gopal Joshi, but anyone misusing his name for their work does not have his endorsement.
"In 2013, the City Civil Court in Bengaluru had already issued an injunction preventing anyone from using my name. The details of this are recorded in the court's affidavit," Joshi clarified, providing documents as 'evidence'.