Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti disqualified from MP assembly after conviction in cheating case
Bhopal (PTI): Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti has been disqualified from the state legislative assembly following his conviction in a case involving the tampering of bank records to secure illegal interest payments, officials said on Friday.
Following deliberations on the issue on Thursday night, the Vidhan Sabha authorities issued a notification annulling Bharti’s membership from the Datia assembly seat, they said.
Bharti had defeated former MP home minister Narottam Mishra of the ruling BJP from the seat in the 2023 assembly polls.
The notification, citing a Delhi court order sentencing Bharti to three years’ imprisonment and declaring the Datia seat vacant, was issued by the assembly’s principal secretary, Arvind Sharma, on the night of April 2 and released to the media on Friday morning.
A Delhi court on Thursday sentenced Bharti and a former bank employee to three years’ imprisonment in a cheating case involving the forging of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011.
Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh also imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh on Bharti and former cashier Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati.
The duo was convicted on Wednesday for the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of a valuable security, forgery for cheating and using a forged document as genuine.
The case, which originated in MP’s Datia, 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.
The top court, which had stayed further proceedings in the case pending before a court in Gwalior, had said it was the state’s duty to ensure a fair trial was conducted.
In its 95-page judgment, the Delhi court rejected the defence plea that the accused, as “public servants”, could not be prosecuted for discharge of official functions without government sanction, saying cheating and forgery are “dereliction of duty rather than the performance of a duty”.
It said that Bharti and Prajapati, along with the MLA's mother Savitri Devi and possibly other unknown persons, conspired to cheat the complainant bank -- Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank -- by continuing to draw interest at a much higher rate beyond 2011, even though their fixed deposit (FD) had an initial tenure of three years.
Proceedings against Savitri Devi were abated after she died in 2019.
The 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.”
Instead, it is a case involving the forgery of bank documents and the cheating of a bank between 1998 and 2011, long before the alleged political rivalry claimed by Bharti, the court said.
According to the prosecution, Savitri Devi had deposited Rs 10 lakh in the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank at Datia on August 24, 1998, and the deposit was made in the name of a family-run trust for an FD of three years at an interest rate of 13.5 per cent per annum.
It was alleged that the accused entered into a conspiracy to extend the high-interest payments beyond the stipulated period by 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 was alleged that the trust, where Bharti was a trustee, illegally got around Rs 18.5 lakh in interest. In its order, the court said that Bharti, who served as the chairman of the bank when the fraud was committed, used his position to pressure employees and facilitate the unauthorised payments to his family trust.
The court also noted that the initials of the then bank cashier Prajapati were found next to the tampered sections of the records where correction fluid had been applied.
The court rejected the defence submission that the accused were “public servants” immune from prosecution without government sanction.
It said that committing an offence punishable under the law can never be considered part of a public servant’s official duties.
Superior courts have consistently held that acts such as cheating, forgery, fabrication of records, and criminal conspiracy are not part of a public servant's official duties, it said.
Since forgery involves creating false documents and cheating involves deception, these acts are regarded as a dereliction of duty rather than the performance of a duty, it said.
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Delhi Police busts LPG black marketing racket in Bawana, 75 cylinders seized; 1 held
New Delhi (PTI): Delhi Police has busted an LPG cylinder hoarding and black marketing racket in the Bawana area, an officer said on Friday.
A 50-year-old man, identified as Anil, has been arrested and 75 cylinders seized, he said.
The accused was apprehended following a tip-off about the illegal storage and transportation of LPG cylinders in the industrial area.
Acting on the input, a police team laid a picket near District Park in Bawana on Thursday evening. Around 4 pm, a pickup truck was intercepted and checked, leading to the recovery of 27 LPG cylinders, including both domestic and commercial units.
"When questioned, the accused failed to produce any valid documents, including a licence, permit, stock register or proof of ownership for the cylinders," the officer said.
During interrogation, Anil revealed that more cylinders were stored at nearby premises. Based on his disclosure, police raided two rooms and an iron shed near a factory in the area.
"A total of 48 additional cylinders were recovered, taking the overall seizure to 75. The cylinders were stored without safety measures or legal authorisation, posing a serious risk," the officer said.
Disruptions in maritime supply routes through the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing US-Israel and Iran conflict have caused an LPG crisis in India.
