Supreme Court grants anticipatory bail to former IAS officer Pradip N Sharma in land allotment case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday granted protection from arrest to former IAS officer Pradip N Sharma in a case related to alleged irregularities in the allotment of around 150 acres of land in Bhuj district of Gujarat.

The relief granted to Sharma will not have much impact as he has been in custody for over four years in connection with multiple cases registered against him.

The top court, which disposed of a petition of Sharma, refused to interfere with the Gujarat High Court order of March 1, 2019, by which it had declined to quash the case registered in 2012.

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and PB Varale noted that Sharma has not been arrested in the case due to the interim orders passed by the high court in 2012 and subsequently the relief was extended by the apex court on April 22, 2019.

The bench directed Sharma to cooperate with the investigation in the case and granted liberty to the probe agency, which is the state CID, to move the magistrate court if his custody was required.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Gujarat government opposed the grant of relief and said it is like an ad-interim anticipatory bail to the accused, whose custodial interrogation was required.

The bench said the probe agency still has the liberty to approach the magistrate court in case his custodial interrogation was required.

Senior advocate Devadatt Kamat, appearing for Sharma, submitted that his client is 71 years old and has been in judicial custody for over four and half years in another case.

The high court in its order had rejected Sharma's plea for quashing an FIR registered against him for irregularities in the allotment of around 150-acre land at Kidana village of Bhuj district to 30 different firms using forged documents.

While refusing to interfere with the FIR, the high court had said that the allegations made against Sharma in the case cannot be said to be absurd and is not disclosing any offence warranting quashing of FIR under Section 482 of the CrPC.

Sharma has sought quashing of the FIR registered on March 22, 2012, related to the offence allegedly committed between May 2005 and May 2006 on the grounds of a delay of six years in registration of the case.

He has alleged political malice behind the registration of multiple cases against him and said since January 2010, a series of FIRs have been registered against him in order to ensure that he remains behind bars for an indefinitely long period.

Sharma claimed that the reason for the registration of multiple cases against him was that he and his brother, ex-IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma have not been in the good books of the political setup of the state.