Decision on custody of former minister Kokate will be taken after angiography, says police

Mumbai, Dec 19 (PTI) NCP leader and former sports and youth affairs minister Manikaro Kokate will undergo angiography on Friday morning, following which a decision about his custody will be taken, officials said.  A team of Nashik City Police reached Bandra on Thursday night along with a non-bailable warrant issued against Kokate, an official said.

In the early hours, the team led by ACP Sandeep Mitke reached Lilavati hospital in Bandra and discussed Kokate's custody with doctors who are treating him, he said.  Doctors informed police that Kokate will undergo an angiography test in the morning, and if the reports are normal, then he can be discharged from the hospital.

Accordingly, the team of Nashik Police recorded statements of the doctors who are treating Kokate.

If Kokate gets discharged, Nashik Police will serve a non-bailable warrant to him and will take his custody, the official said.  The court recently upheld Kokate's two-year sentence in a cheating and forgery case in which he had allegedly secured flats under an EWS quota through forged documents in 1995.

Kokate, who was the Maharashtra Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs, Minority Affairs, and Waqf, has submitted his resignation from the ministerial post after the court order in which the conviction was upheld, the official said. PTI DC  RD RD