After completion of ACB remand period, Former IAS Pradip Sharma sent to jail

Bhavnagar/Ahmedabad:

Former IAS officer Pradip Sharma, who was re-arrested soon after his release from jail on bail in an alleged money laundering case last Friday by the Anti Corruption Bureau in connection with a bribe case of Bhavnagar, was today again sent to jail after completion of his remand period.

Sharma, who has challenged his arrest by ACB in the Gujarat High Court alleging that it was done owing to malafide intention of the state government , was on ACB remand for the past one week.

The ACB team had arrested Sharma from the gate of Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad when he was walking out after spending 20 months in jail in an alleged money-laundering case being probed by the Enforcement Directorate.

The FIR by ACB is lodged in Bhavnagar based on a statement of Sahay Raj, Managing Director of a private shipping firm, Shoft Shipyard, who has alleged that he had given Rs 25 lakh bribe to Sharma for releasing funds. Raj has in his statement said that from December 2008 to May 2009, Sharma was MD of Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Limited and during this period, he had given money to the tune of Rs 25 lakh to Sharma via a middleman Saifuddin Bhuria for release of the payments from the government owned company to his company.

DeshGujarat