Former Gujarat IAS officer Pradeep Sharma convicted, sentenced to 5 years in jail in 2004 corruption case

Ahmedabad: A special designation court on Monday sentenced ex-IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to 5 years of imprisonment in connection with a corruption case. Holding Sharma guilty of misconduct as a government servant and taking undue advantage of his position, the court sentenced him to 5 years of jail.

This is the first major case in which the former IAS officer, who was at loggerheads with the Gujarat government during Narendra Modi's tenure as Chief Minister of the state, has been convicted and sentenced. He is facing nearly a dozen FIRs, all related to corruption. Earlier in 2023, he was sentenced to one month in jail in a case related to keeping a phone inside the prison in Bhuj, Kutch district.

The principal district and sessions judge K M Sojitra pronounced the judgement holding Sharma guilty in the case under section 13(2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 that deals with public servants committing criminal misconduct and section and public servants taking undue advantage of their position.

The details of the judgement were not immediately available as the quantum of sentence was pronounced late Monday evening. Advocate R C Kodekar, who appeared for the state government, said that Sharma was sentenced in the case in which the ex-IAS made his wife, Shyamal, a partner in the Value Packaging firm, and received bribe money.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau, Ahmedabad, investigated the case and revealed that Sharma as a collector in Kutch, back in 2004, abused his power and allotted land to Welspun Group at a lower rate causing loss to the exchequer. It was found that Sharma had made Shyamal one of the partners of a firm named Value Packaging, associated with Welspun, as part of the alleged deal.

Sharma invested Rs 1 lakh in the name of his wife, Shyamal, in Value Packaging with a motive to channelize Rs 22 lakhs, which he was alleged to have received from the firm as a favour for a land deal in the guise of profit. The Enforcement Directorate also investigated Sharma based on this case, and allegedly found that he transferred over Rs 1 crore through hawala channel to the account of his wife, who lives in the United States.

Sharma's lawyer R J Goswami said that he was awaiting judgement which will be challenged in the High Court.