3 min readNew DelhiApr 2, 2026 06:04 AM IST
First published on: Apr 2, 2026 at 06:04 AM IST
A Delhi court on Wednesday convicted Congress MLA from Madhya Pradesh’s Datia, Rajendra Bharti, in a bank fraud case related to forging records to receive illegal interest payments.
“Suffice it to note that cheating was indeed committed against the bank when, based on a forged tenure of the FD, interest at a much higher rate was withdrawn annually until 2011, even after the initial three year period of the FD … Normally, upon the completion of the FD tenure, a new FD is issued by the banks. However, in this case, instead of doing so, forgery was committed,” said Special Judge Dig Vinay Singh of Rouse Avenue Court.
Along with Bharti, former bank accountant Raghuvir Sharan Prajapati was convicted, among other offences, for criminal conspiracy.
Bharti won from Datia in 2023 and twice before that — in 1985 on a Congress ticket, and in 1998 as a Samajwadi Party candidate.
In August 1998, a fixed deposit of ₹10 lakh was made in the name of Bharti’s mother Savitri Devi Shyam, at the District Cooperative Rural Development Bank, Datia, for a period of three years at an annual interest rate of 13.5%.
Between 1998 and 2001, Bharti also served as the Chairman of the bank’s Board of Directors. He was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Shyam Sundar Shyam Jan Sahyog Evam Samudayik Vikas Sansthan, headed by his mother during that time.
The case, which originated in Madhya Pradesh’s Datia, was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court in October last year.
As per the prosecution, there was a quid pro quo relationship between Bharti and Prajapati wherein the latter forged documents benefiting Bharti’s family trust in exchange for out of turn promotions from clerk to senior branch manager. Proceedings against Bharti’s mother, Savitri, were abated after she died in 2019.
Bharti had argued that the case against him was “politically motivated”.
“The sum and substance of the above discussion is that accused Bharti and accused Prajapati, along with Savitri Devi and possibly other unknown persons, entered into a criminal conspiracy … to cheat the complainant bank … by continuing to draw interest at a much higher rate beyond 2011…,” the court said in its 95 page judgement.
“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… it is a case of forgery of bank documents and cheating the bank from 1998 to 2011…,” the court said.
Arguments on the quantum of sentence will commence on Thursday.
Arguments on the quantum of sentence will commence on Thursday. (Photo: Freepik) 
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