Thu Feb 20 12:03:17 UTC 2025: ## Maharashtra Agriculture Minister Jailed in 30-Year-Old Fraud Case
**Nashik, Maharashtra –** Maharashtra’s Agriculture Minister, Manikrao Kokate, of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), was sentenced to two years imprisonment and fined Rs 50,000 on Thursday for a 30-year-old case of fraud. The Nashik district and sessions court found Kokate guilty of cheating and submitting false documents to obtain government-allocated flats.
The case, filed in 1995 by the late former minister T.S. Dighole, alleged that Kokate and his brother, Sunil Kokate, fraudulently obtained two flats in Yeolakar Mala under the Chief Minister’s 10% discretionary quota by falsely claiming they were low-income earners without other property. While both brothers were convicted, two other individuals named in the initial First Information Report (FIR) were acquitted.
Kokate, who was present in court at the time of sentencing, stated that he has secured bail and intends to appeal the judgment. The conviction stems from allegations of forgery and other offenses under the Indian Penal Code.
First Piper 