Delhi HC refuses to stay conviction of ex-Cong MLA Rajendra Bharti in cheating case

New Delhi, Jul 10 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stay the conviction of disqualified Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti in a cheating case involving the forging of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011. "We are dismissing it," said Justice Manoj Jain while pronouncing the verdict on Bharti's plea seeking to suspend the conviction. The high court had stayed the three-year sentence awarded to the former MLA in the case on April 28 after he filed an appeal against the trial court's decision. On April 2, the trial court had sentenced Bharti, former chairperson of the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank, to three years' imprisonment in the case. The trial court convicted Bharti on April 1 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Bharti's counsel had earlier argued that once the conviction is stayed, there would be no basis for his disqualification, and consequently, his assembly seat would not be declared vacant. The case, which originated in Madhya Pradesh's Datiya, was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court in October last year in light of the claim that efforts were made to intimidate defence witnesses. According to the prosecution, Bharti's late mother, Savitri, had deposited Rs 10 lakh in the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank at Datiya on August 24, 1998, as a three-year fixed deposit in the name of a family-run trust at an interest rate of 13.5 per cent per annum. The prosecution said the accused entered into a conspiracy to extend the high-interest payments beyond the stipulated period by physically tampering with bank records. Using correction fluid and overwriting, the three-year term was extended by 10 and 15 years, allowing the trust to continue withdrawing annual interest payments till 2011, long after market interest rates had plummeted, claimed the prosecution. It alleged that the trust, where Bharti was a trustee, illegally withdrew a significant amount as interest. PTI ADS ADS KSS KSS