A special court in Delhi convicted Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti on Wednesday (April 1, 2026) in connection with an over 10-year-old fraud case relating to a rural co-operative bank in his constituency of Datia.
The court sent the legislator and another accused, Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati, to Tihar Jail and is likely to pronounce the sentence on Thursday. Mr. Bharti, a third-term MLA who had defeated Bharatiya Janata Party heavyweight Narottam Mishra in the 2023 Assembly poll, could lose his Assembly membership.
Speaking to The Hindu, Mr. Bharti’s office said that they are preparing to challenge the order in the Delhi High Court.
The case against Mr. Bharti and his mother Savitri Shyam was filed in July, 2015 by the Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), Datia, in a local court for allegedly making illegal withdrawals of interest amount on a Rs10 lakh fixed deposit (FD) for 13 years as well as using his influence to increase the term of the FD, purchased in 1998, from original three years to 10 and 15 years. Mr. Prajapati, an employee of the bank, was also made an accused in the case for alleged forgery to change the term of the FD receipt.
Mr. Bharti was the chairman of the bank at the time of FD purchase and when its term was changed. As per the bank’s allegations, the interest amount was started to be withdrawn before the FD got mature and continued until 2011 at the higher rates of 1998.
