A special court for MPs/MLAs in Delhi on Thursday sentenced Congress MLA from Datia Rajendra Bharti from Madhya Pradesh and another person to three years in jail for defrauding a cooperative bank.
The verdict poses a risk to Mr. Bharti’s legislative membership.
On Wednesday, the court convicted him and Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati, a former employee of the Cooperative Agriculture and Development Bank (ARDB), Datia, in a 2015 case for allegedly illegally withdrawing interest amount from a fixed deposit (FD) of ₹ 10 lakh for 13 years and also using their influence to increase the purchase period to 10 3 of the original 199 years. flight. Mr. Prajapati, the treasurer at the time, was convicted for helping Mr. Bharti.
Both were convicted under sections 120B, 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). While the court imposed a fine of ₹ 1 lakh on Mr. Bharti, the fine is ₹ 2.5 lakh on Mr. Prajapati.
Mr. Bharti’s mother, Savitri Shyam, was also accused in the case, but died during the trial.
However, Mr. Bharti and Mr. Prajapati were granted bail for 60 days to appeal to a higher court.
Mr Bharti’s office said an application challenging the verdict would be filed in the Delhi High Court in the next two to three days.
Mr. Bharti was the chairman of the bank at the time of purchase of FD and during the change in its tenure. According to the bank’s claim, the interest charge was started before the maturity of the FD and continued till 2011 at the higher rates of 1998.
In 2025, the case was transferred to Delhi on the direction of the Supreme Court on a petition filed by Mr. Bharti.
The verdict comes as another challenge to the Madhya Pradesh Congress, which is already facing the risk of losing another MLA.
Earlier in March, Vijaypur MLA Mukesh Malhotra’s membership was invalidated by the Madhya Pradesh High Court for withholding information about pending criminal proceedings against him in his election affidavits during the November 2024 by-poll, and declared BJP leader Ram Niwas Rawat, the then state cabinet minister and second deputy MLA, for the elected seat.
However, Mr. Malhotra challenged the order in the Supreme Court and was stayed by it. Although the Supervisory Committee has maintained various restrictions imposed on Mr. Malhotra.
Published – 03 Apr 2026 01:22 IST
