Bail plea of ex-IAS officer rejected in case over regularisation of land

The police did not seek further custody and on Thursday the court of chief judicial magistrate PC Soni rejected the bail plea, said Sharma’s lawyer Bharat Dholakia.

Sharma is presently in judicial custody at Palara jail, Bhuj.

Sharma, who is already facing nearly a dozen cases, and two others have been accused of regularising a piece of land at lower rates, which allegedly caused loss to state exchequer.

The period of the said offence, according to the FIR, is from November 8, 2004 to May 3, 2005, when Sharma was the district collector at Bhuj.

The two others — the then resident additional collector Bhuj and the then town planner of Bhuj — have been mentioned as accused in the case, without naming any individual. Sharma, however, has been named in the FIR.

Dholakia told the Indian Express that among grounds canvassed for bail are the delay of around 19 years in the lodging the FIR after the period of offence, that Sharma is being “isolated and discriminated against”, and that the alleged undervalued rates of regularisation could have been rectified at the time by taking suo motu cognisance of the same by the revenue department.

The prosecution highlighted Sharma’s criminal antecedents to oppose the bail and submitted that the offences are serious in nature, added Dholakia.

Sharma is faced with 12 criminal cases, including a case of money laundering by the Enforcement Directorate, with a majority of the cases accusing Sharma of graft.