India, Dec. 18 -- Contradictory claims made by Maharashtra minister Manikrao Kokate in two separate applications submitted in 1994-one seeking a firearm licence and another for flats under a government housing scheme-eventually became the basis of a cheating and forgery case that has landed him in serious legal trouble more than three decades later.

According to officials, Kokate had applied for a firearm licence in 1994, citing personal security concerns. He had claimed that he routinely handled large sums of cash while making weekly payments of Rs.9,000- Rs.10,000 each to 40-50 workers in his dairy business.

Around the same time, however, he and his brother Vijay Kokate applied for flats at Canada Corner, one of the prime residential ...