In a major setback to the BJP-led MahaYuti government, a Nashik district court on Thursday sentenced State Agriculture Minister Manikrao Kokate of the NCP (Ajit Pawar) to two years' imprisonment and imposed `50,000 fine in the 1995 document tampering and fraud case.
Delivering its judgement in the 30-year-old case, the Nashik district and sessions court convicted Manikrao Kokate and his brother Sunil Kokate in the documents tampering and fraud case and sentenced both of them to two years' imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 each on both of them. The court, however, acquitted two others named in the FIR of the case. With his conviction and sentence in a criminal case, Manikrao Kokate -a five-time MLA from Sinnar in Nashik district in north Maharashtra - faces the threat of losing not only his minister's position but also his membership of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
In her verdict handing two years' imprisonment to Manikrao Kokate and his brother, 10th Addl. Chief Judicial Magistrate, Nashik Rupali C. Narwadiya said that though the reputation of Kokate - being state Agriculture Minister "if he is punished" in the case", "law cannot condone such illegal acts".
"No doubt, the reputation of the accused no.1 being a minister of the state in the agriculture department may be ruined if he is punished. But simultaneously, the law cannot condone such illegal acts merely due to the fact that the person is having a reputable position in the society. In view of creating deterrence, it is essential to give a strong message to the society that commission of offence like cheating and forgery are not tolerable irrespective of the post, or reputation of the person, and that justice does not see the culprit's post," the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate stated in 38-page judgement.
The case against Kokate brothers was filed by their political rival and former minister Tukaram Dighole of the Congress. Dighole had alleged that the Kokate brothers had forged documents to fraudulently obtain flats in the Nirman View Apartment, located on College Road at Nashik's Yeolekar Mala locality.
The Prosecution's case is that the Kokate brothers had claimed that they belonged to the low-income group (LIG), their income was lower than `30,000 each per annum and that they had no other properties, which allowed them to secure flats under the chief minister's 10 per cent discretionary quota. However, the subsequent investigations by the police revealed that they had falsified the documents to receive these benefits.
