Delhi HC reserves verdict on ex MLA Rajendra Bharti's plea to suspend conviction in cheating case

New Delhi, Jul 9 (PTI) The Delhi High Court on Thursday reserved order on disqualified Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti's plea seeking a stay on his conviction in a cheating case involving the forging of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011. The high court had stayed the three-year sentence awarded to the former MLA in the case on April 28. Bharti's counsel said once the conviction is stayed, there would be no basis for his disqualification, and consequently, his assembly seat would not be declared vacant. "Heard. Reserved," said Justice Manoj Jain. Bharti's counsel earlier submitted that his appeal against the trial court's decision raised "significant" questions of law and facts. 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). Underlining that restitution would serve justice better than physical incarceration, the trial court had also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Bharti, which would go to the Madhya Pradesh Sahkari Krishi Avem Gramin Vikas Bank Seemit, Bhopal, as the complainant bank had undergone liquidation. 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. In the verdict, the trial court said, "Accused Bharti and accused Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati, along with Savitri Devi (deceased) and possibly other unknown persons, entered into a criminal conspiracy and the object of this conspiracy was to cheat the complainant bank (Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank) by continuing to draw interest at a much higher rate beyond 2011, which was the initial fixed deposit (FD) duration of three years." Proceedings against Bharti's mother, Savitri, were abated after she died in 2019. The trial court said that in furtherance of this conspiracy, the bank documents, which are valuable securities, were forged, and the forgery was part of the aim to cheat the bank. The trial court also observed, "The argument by Bharti that he is politically targeted or that the prosecution is politically motivated is all speculation. He has failed to prove any such political motives or false implications." 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 KSS KSS