Former Collector of Kutch and suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma was arrested on Tuesday from his residence in Ahmedabad in connection with corruption charges.
A team of senior Anti-Corruption Bureau officials arrested Sharma, who is facing five corruption cases related to rehabilitation work in Kutch. He was posted as Kutch Collector after the devastating earthquake there in January 2001. One of the major charges against him was that land was given to a private company in Kutch where his wife was a partner.
Sharma claimed that he had been framed and manipulated by former Additional Chief Secretary in Gujarat Government, P Panneervel, whose wife was also a partner in the company named Value Packaging. Around four years ago Sharma was arrested and sent to jail on charges of corruption during his posting at Bhavnagar as Municipal Commissioner. However, he was released on bail in 2013. He was also suspended in 2010.
On Monday, the Enforcement Directorate attached Sharma’s property worth nearly Rs 1 crore in Gujarat. The court has also refused to permit him to travel to America to meet his wife and son, who are US citizens.
