Delhi High Court refuses to stay conviction of ex-Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti in bank fraud case

The Delhi High Court on Friday declined to stay the conviction of former Indian National Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti in a cooperative bank fraud case.

Justice Manoj Jain pronounced the order in the case which involves cheating and embezzlement of funds from a rural development bank.

"We will try to upload judgment (on court website) in an hour or so. Unfortunately for you we are dismissing it," the Court said in open court.

Rajendra Bharti, a former three-time MLA from the Datia constituency in Madhya Pradesh and a senior leader of the Indian National Congress, had challenged a April 2026 judgment of the Rouse Avenue Court convicting him in a corruption case involving forgery of bank records and cheating a cooperative bank through a fixed deposit scheme.

The case concerns a ₹10 lakh fixed deposit made in 1998 in the Zila Sahkari Krishi Gramin Vikas Bank in the name of Shri Shyam Sunder Shyam Jan Sahyog Evam Samajik Vikas Sansthan, a trust with which Bharti was associated as a trustee.

According to the prosecution, the fixed deposit was originally created for a period of three years. However, bank records were subsequently altered to falsely reflect that the tenure had been extended first to 10 years and then to 15 years.

These forged entries enabled the beneficiary trust to continue receiving annual interest of approximately ₹1.35 lakh well beyond the expiry of the original deposit period, resulting in losses to the cooperative bank until 2011.

In its April judgment, the Rouse Avenue Court Bharti convicted for criminal conspiracy in connection with the cheating and forgery offences.

It held that Bharti was part of a criminal conspiracy to cheat the bank. It noted that he was not only a trustee of the beneficiary trust but also served as chairperson of the cooperative bank during the period when the illegal interest payments were made.

The trial court rejected Bharti's claim that the prosecution was politically motivated. It held that the allegations were supported by documentary evidence. It noted that the offences related to events spanning 1998 to 2011, much before the political rivalry alleged by him.

He then moved the High Court.

He sought a stay on his conviction, contending that the conviction would prevent him from contesting the by-election from the Datia Assembly constituency.

The High Court suspended Bharti's three-year sentence during the pendency of his appeal. Today it refused to stay the conviction.

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