Justice JB Pardiwala of Gujarat high court on Friday granted anticipatory bail to suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma in the case where he allegedly used SIM cards given by Welspun Group. Sharma is facing the charges of using SIM cards given by the corporate group which also paid bill for mobile calls made by him.
IH Syed, counsel for Sharma, said: "The high court had, on February 15, 2011, granted him interim anticipatory bail and now he was granted permanent anticipatory bail in the case of using of SIM cards allegedly belonging to Welspun Group."
The CID (Crime) had lodged a case against Sharma for using two SIM cards given by Welspun Group. The group was allegedly allotted land when Sharma was district collector of Kutch.
Earlier, he was grated anticipatory bail on certain conditions, which included that he should co-operate with police officers and not give inducement or threat to witnesses.
Sharma, who faces over half a dozen cases lodged by the CID (Crime), was municipal commissioner of Bhavnagar when he was arrested. He mainly faces the charges of having committed irregularity in allotting land to the traders of Bhuj agriculture market yard when he was Kutch collector. The CID (Crime) had registered a series of cases against him.
