A special PMLA court in Ahmedabad has sentenced retired IAS officer Pradeep Sharma to five years&rsquo; imprisonment, marking a major development in the long-running investigation into alleged irregular land allocations during his tenure in Kutch. The court also confirmed that properties attached during the probe will remain with the government, and clarified that the punishment will run separately from an earlier conviction he is already serving.
The case centred on allegations that Sharma, while serving as Kutch Collector, enabled the transfer of government land to a private company at an undervalued rate, causing significant loss to the state exchequer. Investigators said the proceeds of this deal were later routed to bank accounts held by his children in the United States, forming the basis for the money-laundering charges.
The Enforcement Directorate, which filed its complaint in 2016 following an FIR lodged by CID Crime in 2010, submitted financial trails, correspondence and valuation records to assert that Sharma had &ldquo;misused official authority&rdquo; to influence the land process. The court agreed that the transaction was structured to conceal illicit gains, leading to the conviction under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Earlier this year, the ED also attached assets worth ₹5.92 crore linked to a separate CID case that accused Sharma of colluding with revenue officials to bypass government rules and allocate high-value land to a private buyer, who later turned it into residential plots. A career bureaucrat who joined the services in 1981 and rose to the IAS in 1999, Sharma has remained under scrutiny for more than a decade, with his family, particularly his brother, former IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma also having figured in several public controversies.

Ex-IAS Pradeep Sharma Gets 5-Year Jail Term

Gujarat court convicts ex-bureaucrat in Kutch land scam, confirms asset seizure

Ex-IAS Pradeep Sharma Gets 5-Year Jail Term

Gujarat court convicts ex-bureaucrat in Kutch land scam, confirms asset seizure

December 6, 2025 | 19:27 IST