No relief to Pradip Sharma, order on bail plea reserved till October 10

Arguing the matter of Sharma, advocate Bharat Dholakia said prima facie, there was no case against the officer as the government had regularised the said land allocation to Value Packaging by collecting additional Rs1 lakh from the company. “The investigating agency is saying the matter had come to light in 2011 but not FIR was registered. According to law, FIR has to be registered at the instance of getting first information in cognisable offences. But in the present case, FIR has been registered after three years. This means the police did not find the matter a cognisable offence in 2011. Now what circumstances have changed that the same matter becomes a cognisable offence,” Dholakia said alleging the case was filed to keep the officer behind bar.

Incidentally, the issue of land allocation to Value Packaging had come to the notice of Criminal Investigation Department (crime) while it was investigating a 2011 case of alleged fraudulent allocation to companies of Welspun Group in Kutch by Sharma.

Dholakia further argued that Deepika Panneervel, wife of former additional chief secretary P Panneervel and one Sunil Millat were other persons involved in Value Packaging deal but Sharma was being singled out and therefore, the investigation was biased prima facie.

However, district prosecutor Kalpesh Goswami that it was government’s prerogative to take action against erring officers. “This case pertains to your role in the said offence. Sharma’s legal liability increases since he is an IAS officer and he committed the alleged crime knowingly by keeping a cool and calculated mind. He is a white-caller accused and if let out an bail, he can temper with evidence and influence witnesses,” submitted Goswami.

But continuing argument for Sharma, senior advocate Ratnakar Dholakia contended that the 59-year-old officer had been enlarged on bail in previous six cases either by the Supreme Court or Gujarat High Court. “There is no record of him having tempered with evidence. Furthermore, alleged offence for which he is booked now is being investigated under FIR registered in 2010. So, the present FIR cannot be treated as an FIR. Since the FIR is not maintainable, Sharma should be released on bail,” said the senior advocate.

However, the prosecutor said Sharma had previously been booked for faking documents and the investigator apprehended that he would escape abroad if let out of jail. “Sharma has recently sold off a flat in Ahmedabad and has transferred money to a bank account in Mumbai. It is possible he can escape to a foreign nation,” said Goswami.

The prosecutor also submitted that Value Packaging had extended financial benefits worth Rs29.50 lakh to Shyama, who in  turn, transferred Rs9.5 of them into her husband’s account. “This means, the entire action was taken by Sharma for personal gains,” said Goswami.

However, when Judge Jaydev Dhadhal asked the prosecutor how the present case was differed from the one filed in 2010, Goswami said private entities in question were different.

After hearing the arguments, the court reserved its order till Friday.

Incidentally, this is second case under PCA that Sharma has been booked for. Earlier, CID (crime) had booked the officer of corruption after it found that he had got Welspun to pay bill of his mobile phone.

The 1984-batch IAS officer was one of the subjects of an alleged surveillance mounted by Gujarat police on a woman architect in 2009 allegedly under the instructions of then Minister of State for Home, Amit Shah. Sharma had alleged that Shah was acting at the behest of then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi