Datia (Madhya Pradesh): The Delhi MP-MLA Court on Wednesday convicted Datia Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti under Section 420 of the IPC in a decades-old fraud case linked to the Land Development Bank.
According to reports, this case dates back approximately 25 years, to a time when Rajendra Bharti—then a former MLA of Datia—served as the Chairman of the District Cooperative Agricultural and Rural Bank, Datia.
FD Fraud!
During his tenure, in 1998, he opened an FD of ₹10 lakh in the name of his late mother, Savitri Devi, with a maturity period of three years. At that time, the annual interest rate offered was 13.5%.
It is alleged that, while holding the office of Chairman, he acted in contravention of the rules by withdrawing the interest on the FD separately each year; whereas, according to regulations, both the interest and the principal amount are disbursed only upon the maturity of the deposit.
Tenure extension
Thus, payments were made in violation of the rules for a period of three years. It is further alleged that in 2001—when the FD's tenure was nearing completion, and market interest rates had declined—Rajendra Bharti misused his official position and tampered with the documents to extend the tenure by another three years. Even after this extension, he continued to draw interest annually at the inflated rate of 13.5%.
Finally, it is alleged that in 2004, the documents were altered once again to extend the FD's tenure by approximately another 10 years, thereby enabling him to continue receiving higher interest returns.
This entire scheme was executed through the use of forged documents and alterations to records.
The bank management became aware of the irregularities in 2003, following which an internal inquiry was initiated. The investigation found Rajendra Bharti and his mother to be at fault. Subsequently, the matter reached the Consumer Forum and the Court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Datia.
