New Delhi/Bhopal, April 1 (IANS) An MP-MLA court in New Delhi on Wednesday convicted sitting Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti in connection with a case dating back over 28 years, related to a Cooperative Rural Development Bank in Datia district of Madhya Pradesh.

After convicting Bharti, who is the MLA from the Datia Assembly seat in the Gwalior division of Madhya Pradesh, the court sent him to jail, senior advocate Anil Kumar Shukla, who argued on behalf of the bank, told IANS on Wednesday.

However, the quantum of sentence will be announced on Thursday.

Rajendra Bharti had been accused of financial irregularities committed while serving as the Chairman of the Cooperative Rural Development Bank in Datia.

“The court held him guilty under Section 420 (cheating) of the IPC, and following the judgment, the court adopted a strict stance and issued directions to send him to Tihar Jail with immediate effect,” advocate Shukla told IANS over the phone.

The case traces back to 1998, when Bharti’s mother, Savitri Shyam, while serving as president of the ‘Shyam Sundar Shyam Sansthan’, had deposited a fixed deposit (FD) of Rs 10 lakh at the District Cooperative Rural Development Bank, Datia, for a tenure of three years at an annual interest rate of 13.50 per cent.

During the period from 1998 to 2001, Bharti served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank.

It is also pertinent to note that at the time the aforementioned FD was established, Bharti was simultaneously a member of the Board of Trustees of the ‘Shyam Sundar Shyam Jan Sahyog evam Samudayik Vikas Sansthan’ in Datia.

Bharti allegedly orchestrated tampering of bank records — including the ledger book, the FD counter-slip, and the FD receipt — to extend the tenure of the FD from the original three years to 10 years and subsequently to 15 years.

During the hearing, it was argued that the objective behind this manipulation was to ensure that the benefit of the 13.50 per cent interest rate could be accrued continuously for 15 years, benefiting both his mother and his associated institution.

Following Bharti’s relinquishment of the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, a complaint in this matter was filed in the Datia district court on July 29, 2015.

The court had subsequently framed charges against Bharti under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, and 120(B) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

Meanwhile, co-accused Raghuveer Sharan Prajapati was impleaded following an application for prosecution filed under Section 319 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), and charges were framed against him under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471, 409, and 120(B) of the IPC.

Based on the evidence presented by the prosecution, the case was proven beyond reasonable doubt. Consequently, the Delhi court convicted Bharti on Wednesday.

Notably, Rajendra Bharti had won the Assembly election from Datia in November 2023, defeating senior BJP leader and former Madhya Pradesh Home Minister Narottam Mishra by a margin of over 8,000 votes.

–IANS

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