Bribery case: High Court notice to govt on bail plea of jailed ex-IAS officer

Assistant commissioner of police, ACB, B L Desai had produced the transcripts while opposing Sharma’s bail in March. (File)

The Gujarat High Court on Tuesday issued a notice to the state government on a petition moved by jailed former IAS officer Pradeep Sharma, seeking regular bail in connection with a bribery case of Rs 25 lakh in 2008 when he was the managing director of Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd, a state-owned company. The court asked the government to respond to its notice by August 28.

In his bail application, Sharma had raised the question of legality of his phone being tapped. The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which probed the case, has annexed transcripts of telephone conversations purportedly between Sharma and one Sahay Raj, who allegedly gave him a bribe of Rs 25 lakh in 2008 for releasing Rs 1.5 crore to Raj’s private shipping firm — Shoft Shipyard. In the chargesheet, the ACB has mentioned about this alleged telephone conversation.

Assistant commissioner of police, ACB, B L Desai had produced the transcripts while opposing Sharma’s bail in March. The FIR by ACB is primarily based on a statement recorded by the ED officers in 2014 while probing money laundering charges against Sharma, who is currently lodged at Bhavnagar jail. The ACB has built its case around the statement of Raj who told the ED officers that he gave Sharma Rs 25 lakh bribe for releasing funds to his company in 2008.