Hawala case: SC asks Pradip Sharma to appear before ED today

The division bench of Justices Jagdish Singh Khehar and R Bhanumathi adjourned the matter for a month and directed Sharma not to leave Ahmedabad till the next hearing.

The Supreme Court has directed suspended IAS officer Pradip Sharma to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Ahmedabad office, at 10 AM on Thursday in connection with the alleged Rs 1.73 crore money-laundering case. The SC order, passed on Wednesday, states that Sharma “shall not leave the premises of the Investigating Officer (IO) till he is allowed to do so”. The order states that Sharma has to appear before the IO on subsequent days as and when directed.

The division bench of Justices Jagdish Singh Khehar and R Bhanumathi adjourned the matter for a month and directed Sharma not to leave Ahmedabad till the next hearing. He has been asked to furnish a personal bond of Rs 10 lakh and two other surety bonds before September 14.

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Sharma is facing arrest in this case which was lodged by ED officials in March 2012 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. It has been alleged that Sharma sold government land at a cheaper rate to Kutch-based Welspun Group while serving as Collector of Kutch in 2004. Probe revealed that Sharma remitted Rs 1.73 crore to the United States (US) through hawala channel.

This allegation is based on the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s case accusing Sharma of causing about Rs 1 crore loss to the exchequer by selling land to Welspun Group. In lieu of it, he allegedly received financial benefits worth Rs 29.5 lakh through his wife Shyamal’s partnership in Value Packaging, a Welspun Group company. Sharma was held by the ACB last year and was granted bail by a Bhuj district court.

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