Court stays Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate's conviction in cheating case

Mumbai: A court in Nashik on Wednesday stayed the conviction of Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate in a cheating and forgery case of 1995.

A magistrate court had on February 20 convicted the NCP leader and his brother Sunil Kokate and sentenced them to two-year imprisonment in the case pertaining to submitting fake documents to get flats under a government quota.

The brothers later filed an appeal, seeking a stay on the magistrate's order, before District Judge 1 and Additional Sessions Judge (Nashik) N V Jiwane.

The sessions court on Wednesday allowed their appeal.

The detailed order was not available yet.

While the magistrate court last month convicted Manikrao Kokate and his brother, it acquitted two others accused inn the same case, registered in 1995 on a complaint of former minister, late T S Dighole.

As per the prosecution, Manikrao Kokate and his brother were allotted two flats meant for the Low Income Group (LIG) on College Road in Yeolakar Mala area of Nashik under the chief minister's 10 per cent discretionary quota.

To be eligible, they made false claims of belonging to the LIG category and not owning a house in the city, it was alleged.

After Dighole approached the police, a case of cheating, forgery and other offences under the Indian Penal Code was registered against the Kokate brothers and two others at Sarkarwada police station in Nashik.