A sessions court on Monday convicted former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to 5 years imprisonment besides fining him ₹75 thousand in a corruption case of 2004. The case involves Sharma, who has worked as a collector during his tenure of service at Kutch district in Gujarat, where he is accused of cheating the government of ₹1.2 crore by providing land to Welspun Group at a nominal price. The verdict in the case was presided over by the principal district and session judge, KM Sojitra.
Sharma was arrested for criminal misconduct as a public servant and for obtaining undue advantage without consideration under sections 13(2) and 11 of the Prevention of Corruption Acts. He got 5 years imprisonment with a fine of ₹50000 under section 13(2) and 3yr imprisonment with a fine of ₹25000 under section 11. The public prosecutor Kalpesh Goswami informed the court that the two sentences would be served concurrently. Sharma is at present imprisoned in Bhuj jail in connection with another corruption scam.
Earlier, the ACB had filed a case of fraud against Sharma for giving out a piece of government land to the group at a mere 25% of the current rate per square metre. It is said that the company offered Sharma’s wife a 30% interest in one of its subsidiaries, namely Value Packaging, thus giving her a value of ₹29.5 lakh. Sharma was arrested by the ACB on September 30, 2014, for providing clearance to the company in exchange for ₹ 29 lakh as a bribe.
The court allowed the trial of three corruption cases of land allotments to the Welspun Group to be clubbed together. Sharma, who has been charged three times for corruption, had business rivalry with the Gujarat government when Narendra Modi was the CM of Gujarat. The decision is quite a recent advancement in the lengthy legal case against the former bureaucrat.
Join our whatsapp group for Latest updates