Ex-IAS officer denied bail, not allowed to watch son’s wedding over video call

The state government, however, strongly objected to the application, stating, “The bail is sought since the son’s wedding is in America. The accused has declared that his family members are also settled in America… therefore the current event (video conferencing) will not have a direct bearing on son’s wedding and hence the interim bail should be rejected.”

In his affidavit, Assistant Commissioner (ACB, Ahmedabad) B L Desai objected to Sharma’s appeal on the ground that he didn’t disclose the wedding plan in his regular bail plea. “We had moved this plea much in advance thinking the court will consider this plea on humanitarian ground. Many of the ceremonies have already finished but his plea was not considered. We have not even got the copy of rejection of temporary bail to challenge it in the High Court to immediate relief,” said advocate R J Goswami, who appeared for Sharma.

Sharma was arrested by Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) on March 9, hours after he was released on bail granted by the High Court in connection with an alleged money laundering case probed by Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The ACB had lodged an FIR at 6.15 am on March 9, hours before Sharma’s scheduled release from Sabarmati Central Jail in Ahmedabad.

The fresh FIR is based on a statement of Managing Director Sahay Raj of a private shipping firm during ED’s probe in the money laundering case.

Raj had alleged that he gave Rs 25 lakh bribe to Sharma for releasing funds in 2008 when the latter was managing director of Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Limited.

Sharma had argued that the FIR against him was filed after a gap of 10 years with “malafide intention” and “belatedly” in order to see that the petitioner remains behind the bars. Sharma had argued in his bail that while he was in jail, the ACB never questioned him about the alleged bribery.