A BJP MLA, Shobharani Kushwah representing Dholpur constituency in Rajasthan, who is an accused in a financial fraud case, was granted bail by a Madurai court on Monday.
M. Meera Sumathi, district judge, granted the bail after Ms. Kushwah deposited a sum of ₹2 lakh. The case was posted to June 11, by which time she has been directed to deposit a further sum of ₹3 lakh. The MLA and her husband Banwari Lal Kushwah, a former MLA of the Bahujan Samaj Party, are being tried for cheating investors by the Special Court constituted under the Tamil Nadu Protection of Interests of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1997.
In 2016, the Economic Offences Wing police in Virudhunagar district had registered a case against the couple and a few others, for their alleged involvement with Garima Agrotech, a financial company that had lured investors to make fixed and recurring deposits, promising high returns.
115 complaints filed
The company had its offices in Madurai, Virudhunagar, Karungalakudi (Madurai district), Theni and Kumbakonam. As many as 115 complaints were filed against the firm and the depositors claimed they were cheated of ₹1.5 crore. The cases were combined with those in the Virudhunagar unit of the Economic Offences Wing.
Ms. Kushwah was elected to the Rajasthan Assembly from Dholpur in the April 2017 by-election. The by-election was held after her husband was disqualified after being convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a 2012 honour killing case.
