A Delhi court has convicted Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti from Madhya Pradesh’s Datia in a bank fraud case involving forgery of fixed deposit records. The Supreme Court transferred the case from Datia to Delhi in October last year. Former bank accountant Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati was also convicted of criminal conspiracy.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh at Rouse Avenue Court convicted Rajendra Bharti on Wednesday in the bank fraud case. The court noted that based on a forged fixed deposit tenure, higher interest was withdrawn annually until 2011, beyond the original three-year period. The judge stated, “Suffice it to note that cheating was indeed committed against the bank when, based on a forged tenure of the FD, interest at a much higher rate was withdrawn.”
In August 1998, a ₹10 lakh fixed deposit was made in the name of Bharti’s mother Savitri Devi Shyam at the District Cooperative Rural Development Bank in Datia for three years at 13.5% annual interest. Bharti served as chairman of the bank’s board from 1998 to 2001. Prosecutors alleged a quid pro quo where Prajapati forged documents in exchange for promotions. Proceedings against Savitri Devi abated after her death in 2019.
In its 95-page judgment, the court held that Bharti and Prajapati entered a criminal conspiracy to cheat the bank by drawing higher interest beyond 2011. Dismissing Bharti’s claim of political motivation, the court said it was speculation and the case involved forgery and cheating from 1998 to 2011.
Arguments on the quantum of sentence are set to begin on Thursday. Bharti won the Datia seat in 2023 on a Congress ticket, previously in 1985 for Congress and 1998 for Samajwadi Party.
