A special MP/MLA court in Delhi on Thursday sentenced to three years in prison Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Datia Rajendra Bharti and another person for defrauding a co-operative bank.
The verdict poses a risk to Mr. Bharti’s legislative membership.
On Wednesday, the court had convicted him and Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati, a former employee of the Co-operative Agriculture and Rural Development Bank (ARDB), Datia, in a case from 2015 for allegedly making illegal withdrawals of interest amount on a ₹10 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, a cashier at the time, was convicted for helping Mr. Bharti.
The two 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 amount for Mr. Prajapati is ₹2.5 lakhs.
Mr. Bharti’s mother, Savitri Shyam, was also an accused in the case but she passed away during the course of trial.
