Former Gujarat IAS officer Pradeep Sharma sentenced to five years in money laundering case

A special court in Gujarat on December 6 sentenced former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to five years’ rigorous imprisonment after convicting him in a money laundering case linked to the alleged illegal allotment of government land to the Welspun Group at heavily discounted rates during his tenure as Kutch district collector.

Special PMLA judge K M Sojitra also imposed a fine of ₹50,000 on the 71-year-old retired bureaucrat and ordered confiscation of properties provisionally attached by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) during the investigation.

The court held Sharma guilty under relevant sections of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act based on a 2012 prosecution complaint filed by the agency.

Sharma, who was first arrested in July 2016 and granted bail in March 2018, stood silently as the court said the prosecution had proved that he abused his position to extend illegal favours in exchange for monetary benefits routed through his wife.

Court rejects plea for leniency

Dismissing Sharma’s request to allow the sentence to run concurrently with a previous five-year conviction handed down in January this year, the court observed that the offence was “serious and rooted in corruption.”

“No leniency can be shown,” the judge stated in the order. “The accused was Collector and indulged in corrupt practice… concurrent sentencing would frustrate the provisions of law.”

ED allegations and evidence

The ED case stems from three FIRs registered in 2010 alleging that Sharma — then chairman of the District Land Pricing Committee — allotted multiple plots in Varshmedi village of Anjar taluka to Welspun India Ltd at rates between ₹15 and ₹18 per sq m, against the state-mandated rate of ₹78 per sq m. The prosecution said this caused loss to the exchequer and generated illegal proceeds worth approximately ₹1.2 crore.

Investigators alleged that the illegal gains were channelled through Sharma’s wife, who was made a 30% partner in a Welspun-linked firm without investment, received deposits including ₹22 lakh transferred to her bank account, and used part of the money to repay a housing loan and purchase land in Gandhinagar.

The court noted that funds were also moved overseas to her US-based accounts via third parties.

Defense to appeal

Sharma’s counsel R G Goswami said the defence would move the High Court, arguing that the prosecution was flawed as the PMLA provisions were not in force at the time of the alleged transactions.

“Our legal submissions regarding lack of sanction and procedural violations were not considered,” he said.

Assets to remain seized

Along with the jail term and fine, the court ordered that all assets seized during the investigation — including land and residential property — would now stand permanently confiscated by the Central government.

With Saturday’s ruling, the former IAS officer now faces two separate five-year sentences in money laundering cases, both linked to alleged abuse of office during his tenure in Kutch between 2003 and 2006.