In some relief to jailed former Gujarat cadre IAS officer Sanjay Gupta, the Gujarat High Court on Tuesday granted him bail in Ahmedabad– Gandhinagar Metro Rail Project scam case.
Gupta was chairman of the Metro-link Express for Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad Company limited (MEGA). He was languishing in Sabarmati jail for the past 10 months for his alleged involvement in the scam worth Rs 113 crore related to Metro-rail project.
The 1985 batch IAS officer offered documents of his property worth nearly Rs 8 core as surety before the Gujarat High Court to get regular bail. Gupta’s counsel also told the court to deposit
Rs 25 lakh cash as surety for his bail apart from his company owned Goa based property. However as per the court order Gupta will have to deposit Rs 1 crore as surety amount. The bureaucrat turned business tycoon will have to deposit Rs 50 lakh in next 15 days and Rs 50 lakh after one fortnight.
An investigation carried out by the CID (Crime) found that during Gupta’s tenure as the chairman, materials worth Rs 113 crore for the implementation of the rail project were shown as ordered in the records but there was no trace of delivery of the goods. About half-a-dozen lower ranked officers of the project were also named for involvement in the irregularities. Subsequently he was arrested on 14th May last year by Gandhinagar CID crime officials.
In the past he was attributed to have played a critical role in Gujarat’s successful foray in laying over 2000-km natural gas grid in the state and growth of one of the most successful state-owned unit Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation limited. He was also instrumental in setting up Science City project in Ahmedabad.
A workaholic, ‘go-getter’ and ‘quick decision maker’, Gupta later resigned from the IAS services following his posting as managing director of the insignificant Gujarat Sangeet Natak Akademi and joined Adani Group as CEO for infrastructure projects. He parted ways with Adani in short time thereafter to start his own hospitality venture, Neesa Group, with hotels and resorts in Ahmedabad, Gandhinagar, Jaipur, Gurgaon, Goa and Kerala under brand name Cambay. He also started TV news channel, which didn’t click and he had to close down.
Gupta’s meteoric rise to affluence has always been the subject of gossip among his former colleagues and juniors with the Gujarat government. The senior IAS officer turned industrialist had headed the Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail from 2011 to 2013 as chairman.