NEW DELHI: Maharashtra agriculture minister Manikrao Kokate and his brother Sunil Kokate have been found guilty in a decades-old forgery case. In a verdict on Thursday, the Nashik district court sentenced to two years in prison and fined Rs 50,000 each, bringing an end to legal proceedings that began in the late 1990s.
The case dated back to 1995, when former minister Tukaram Dighole filed a petition accusing the Kokate brothers of forging documents to fraudulently acquire housing under a government scheme. They allegedly misrepresented their income and falsely claimed they did not own any property to qualify for government-allocated flats.
A complaint was lodged at the Wada police station in Nashik, leading to the registration of a case under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including Section 420 (cheating), Section 465 (forgery), Section 471 (using forged documents), and Section 467.
Court records show that between 1995 and 1997, the brothers secured housing under false pretences, however investigations that followed revealed inconsistency in their claims.
While there were four accused in the case, only the Kokate brothers have been sentenced as the court did not issue any punishment to the other two individuals involved.
