Bhuj/Ahmedabad: Former Gujarat IAS officer Pradeep Sharma has been declared guilty in a major illegal land allocation case dating back to his tenure as District Collector of Kutch. A special court has convicted Sharma under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and sentenced him to five years’ rigorous imprisonment.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which investigated the money-laundering angle, has also attached immovable assets worth ₹5.92 crore belonging to Sharma. The attached properties include plots and land parcels in the Bhuj–Kutch region that the agency classified as “proceeds of crime.”
According to the ED and prosecution records, Sharma allegedly misused his official position between 2003 and 2006 by illegally allotting government land in Bhuj to private real estate developers at undervalued rates, causing significant revenue loss to the state exchequer.
The deals were allegedly executed in collusion with certain revenue officials and private entities, who later developed the land into commercial and residential plots.
This latest conviction adds to the series of legal troubles faced by Sharma. Earlier in 2025, a sessions court had already sentenced him to five years in prison in a separate 2004 land-allotment corruption case. Several other land-related cases are pending against him, making this one of Gujarat’s longest-running corruption sagas involving a senior civil servant.
The Enforcement Directorate stated that the illegally allotted lands were later monetized by private developers, and the financial gains were traced back to Sharma and associated individuals.
The agency attached properties worth ₹5.92 crore, including:
- Residential and commercial plots in Bhuj
- Land parcels suspected to be purchased using illicit proceeds
These have been seized under Section 5 of the PMLA.
Sharma’s conviction marks another significant development in Gujarat’s efforts to crack down on corruption within government ranks. Legal experts say he is expected to challenge the verdict in a higher court, but the ED attachment order strengthens the prosecution’s case.
The Bhuj illegal land allotment matter had remained under investigation for over a decade, with multiple state and central agencies probing irregularities across several land deals involving the former bureaucrat.
