A Delhi court has sentenced Madhya Pradesh Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti and his aide to three years in prison for their involvement in a cooperative bank cheating and forgery case.
The court also imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh each on both the convicts, which will be used as compensation for the victim bank.
The case dates back to 2015 in Madhya Pradesh's Datia and was transferred to Delhi by the Supreme Court last year after noting claims that efforts were made to intimidate defence witnesses.
The court found that Bharti and his aide had conspired to cheat the complainant bank by drawing interest at a much higher rate and had forged bank documents to achieve this goal.
The prosecution argued that Bharti, who served as the Chairman of the bank during the period of the fraud, used his position to pressure employees and facilitate the unauthorised payments to his family trust.
The court dismissed the defence's argument that the accused were public servants immune from prosecution in the absence of government sanction.
