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Bhuj, Jan 20: The Gujarat CID apprehended former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma on March 3, 2023, for allegedly inflicting financial harm to the state by inappropriately allocating land at significantly reduced prices during his tenure as the Collector of Kutch district from 2004-05, according to official sources.
An FIR was lodged on March 3, 2023, against Sharma, a 1984-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, along with two accomplices at the CID (Crime) border zone police station in Bhuj, as confirmed by Deputy Superintendent of Police (CID Crime) V.K. Nai.
“Sharma was taken into custody in Gandhinagar and arrested early Sunday morning,” he stated.
At the time of his arrest, Mr. Sharma was on bail in previous cases.
Mr. Sharma has previously asserted that he was targeted by the then-Narendra Modi government in Gujarat. He now faces charges of criminal breach of trust and conspiracy related to unauthorized land allocations in Chudva village within the Gandhidham taluka of Kutch district.
The FIR states that he allegedly allocated government land at drastically reduced prices, misusing his authority as the collector and disregarding official procedures for valuation, consequently causing financial losses to the state’s treasury. This case pertains to land allocations made between November 2004 and May 2005.
Sharma is accused of collaborating with the then-resident Deputy Collector and the Bhuj town planner, both also named in the case.
Mr. Sharma, who served as the Kutch collector from 2003 to 2006, has faced multiple corruption allegations, including prior arrests in a money laundering case under investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
In September 2014, Sharma was detained by the State’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) for allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹29 lakh from a business conglomerate. The complaint alleged that he allotted land to the group in 2004 at only 25% of the market rate, leading to a loss of approximately ₹1.2 crore for the state. In exchange, the company reportedly provided Mr. Sharma’s wife with a 30% equity stake in one of its subsidiaries without her making any capital investment and offered her benefits totaling ₹29.5 lakh.
The Supreme Court has previously rejected his plea for a CBI investigation into the charges against him.
Sharma was also mentioned in the controversial snooping tapes released by two private portals before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, concerning surveillance of a female architect in Ahmedabad, allegedly orchestrated by then Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah.
