Court sentenced
A sessions court in Gujarat on Monday sentenced former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to five years in jail and fined him Rs 75,000 in a corruption case. This case dates back to 2004, when he was the District Magistrate of Kutch in Gujarat. Principal District and Sessions Judge K.M. The court in Sojitra convicted him in a case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
this is the matter
The case pertains to allotment of a plot of land to Welspun Group, which allegedly caused a loss of Rs 1.2 crore to the exchequer. The court found Sharma guilty under Section 13(2) (criminal misconduct by public servant) and Section 11 (obtaining undue advantage by public servant without consideration) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A fine of Rs 50,000 was also imposed
Government lawyer Kalpesh Goswami said that he has been sentenced to five years’ jail and a fine of Rs 50,000 under Section 13(2) and three years’ jail and a fine of Rs 25,000 under Section 11. He said both sentences would run concurrently. Sharma is currently lodged in Bhuj jail in another corruption case.
Joint hearing in three corruption cases
Goswami said the court conducted a joint hearing in three corruption cases related to land allotment to Welspun Group. According to details of the case, Sharma had allotted land to the company at 25 per cent of the prevailing price, causing loss to the government exchequer. In return, the Welspun Group made Sharma’s wife a 30 per cent partner in one of its subsidiaries, Value Packaging, and gave her a profit of Rs 29.5 lakh.
Was arrested in 2014
Sharma was arrested by the ACB on September 30, 2014 on charges of taking a bribe of Rs 29 lakh from a private company when he was the Collector of Kutch in 2004. Sharma, who is facing several corruption cases, was at loggerheads with the state government at a time when Narendra Modi was in charge of the state.
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