AHMEDABAD:
Gujarat high court on Tuesday issued notice to the state government in response to a petition filed by suspended IAS officer
Pradeep Sharma seeking quashing of the FIR registered against him on graft charges by the
Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) in Bhavnagar.
The government and investigating agency have been asked to reply to this petition next week.
Sharma has accused ACB and the state government of malafide intention in registering the FIR on the day he was released from jail on March 9. He was arrested as soon as he came out of Sabarmati central jail after obtaining bail from the high court in the money laundering case registered against him by the Enforcement Directorate.
Sharma has submitted before the HC that the state government has lodged 10 FIRs against him with different police stations at different point of time just with a view to see that he is kept behind the bars.
Besides seeking quashing of the FIR, Sharma has also urged the court to declare his custody as illegal. He cited the
Supreme Court order by which police is prohibited to make straightway arrest in a case in which provision of punishment is up to seven years.
ACB filed an FIR last week stating that when Sharma was managing director of Bhavnagar-based Alcock Ashdown (Gujarat) Ltd in 2007-08, he had allegedly demanded and received Rs 25 lakh from a contractor named Sahay Raj.
