- Manikrao Kokate resigned from Maharashtra cabinet after conviction in housing scam
- Sources said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis accepted Kokate's resignation from the state cabinet
- Kokate held portfolios of Sports, Youth Welfare, Minority Development, and Aukaf
Maharashtra minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Manikrao Kokate's resignation from the state cabinet has been accepted by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, sources said. He resigned yesterday after a conviction in a 30-year-old housing scam.
Deputy Chief Minister and NCP chief Ajit Pawar, after acknowledging Kokate's resignation letter, forwarded it to the chief minister yesterday.
Kokate held Sports and Youth Welfare, Minority Development and Aukaf portfolios in the BJP-led Mahayuti government.
With his exit from the cabinet, the NCP lost a second minister this year.
The first minister from the NCP who resigned in March this year was Dhananjay Munde. A close aide, Walmik Karad, named as the key accused in a murder case of a village sarpanch, cost Munde his portfolio and cabinet post.
Kokate was in the news earlier this year after he was seen playing rummy on his mobile phone inside the assembly.
Legal trouble for Kokate started three decades ago, when a police complaint was filed against him by former Maharashtra minister, TS Dighole. Based on the complaint, a cheating and forgery case was filed against him.
The matter dates back to 1989-1992, involving a housing scheme reserved for the economically weaker section (EWS) with an annual income limit of Rs 30,000, when Kokate applied for a flat.
A sessions court in Nashik, which upheld a magistrate's conviction ruling, noted Kokate "dishonestly induced" the state to allot him a flat meant for the poor by submitting false income affidavits.
Citing bank loans for grapes and rabi crops, as well as records from the Kopargaon Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana (sugar factory), the judge noted Kokate was a "prosperous farmer" whose income far exceeded the eligibility threshold.
The court held Kokate did not fall within the economically weaker section category, which required the applicant's income not to exceed Rs 30,000. Despite this, he obtained a flat under the said scheme.
On February 20 this year, a magistrate court in Nashik convicted Kokate and his brother Vijay and sentenced them to two-year imprisonment in the forgery case, prompting them to approach the sessions court, which stayed their conviction on March 5.
The sessions court on Tuesday upheld the conviction handed to minister Kokate by the magistrate's court.
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