SC agrees to hear ex-Congress MLA’s plea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a plea filed by disqualified Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti, who has challenged the Delhi High Court verdict which refused to stay his conviction in a cheating case. On April 2, a trial court had sentenced Bharti, former chairperson of the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank, to three years’ imprisonment in the case involving alleged 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 after he filed an appeal against the trial court’s decision. On July 10, the high court, however, refused to stay his conviction in the case.

Bharti was disqualified from the state legislative assembly following his conviction. The Election Commission has notified by-election for Bharti’s constituency, Datia, for July 30. The last date for nomination was July 13. Bharti’s plea challenging the high court’s July 10 order came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta on Wednesday.

The bench agreed to hear the matter and issued notice to the respondents. It said the plea would be listed for hearing after four weeks.

In its verdict, the high court said there was no “manifest illegality or perversity” which calls for any interference at this stage, when facts indicated that Bharti, former chairperson of the Zila Sahkari Krishi Aur Grahmin Vikas Bank, abused his position.

The high court observed that Bharti was held guilty of “committing conspiracy related to serious offences of forgery and cheating”, which concerns moral turpitude, and staying the conviction would frustrate the purpose, spirit and objective behind the incorporation of Section 8 of the Representation of Peoples Act, 1951. Section 8 provides for the disqualification of lawmakers convicted of certain criminal offences.

“The present application seeking suspension of conviction is, hereby, dismissed,” the high court said.

A trial court convicted Bharti on April 1 under Sections 120B (criminal conspiracy) read with 420 (cheating), 467 (forgery of a valuable security), 468 (forgery for cheating) and 471 (using a forged document as genuine) of the erstwhile Indian Penal Code.

The case, which originated in Madhya Pradesh’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.

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. Bharti has denied the allegations.