Suspended Gujarat cadre IAS officer Pradeep Sharma had one more setback in much talked land related case as the Gujarat High Court issued notice to his wife Shyamal Sharma to appear before it on 15 June 2016.
Shyamal has been named co-accused in a case wherein her husband and former bureaucrat Pradeep Sharma was alleged to have sold Government land to Welspun Group in an arbitrary manner at a cheaper rate when he was the collector of Kutch district in 2003-04. This, as per the case, caused a loss of `1.2 crore to the State exchequer at that point of time.
According to the details of the case, Welspun on getting the requisite land made Shyamal, who lives in US, a 30 per cent partner in one of its subsidiaries and extended benefits of `29.5 lakh to her. The Enforcement Directorate (ED) had invoked Prevention of Money laundering Act (PMlA) in the matter in 2012. The ED alleged that the money was initially deposited in Shyamal’s overseas bank account and later transferred to her husband’s account in India, violating PMlA.
Gujarat ACB had arrested Pradeep Sharma in 2009 this case but he later received bail. ACB had filed a petition in the Bhuj court seeking issuance of a summons to Shyamal in connection with the investigation of the case. But as the district court rejected its plea, ACB moved to High Court. The notice is now expected to be served to her in US via Union Home ministry.