On Run For Over A Month, 'Crorepati' Ex-Cop Shows Up In Bhopal Court

A former Madhya Pradesh Transport Department constable, who was on the run after raids revealed he had allegedly amassed disproportionate assets, showed up in a Bhopal court on Monday and filed an application for surrender, the Lokayukta police said.

However, a lawyer of former constable Saurabh Sharma insisted his client has "surrendered" and the court asked him to appear before it on Tuesday.

Mr Sharma hit headlines in mid-December when the Lokayukta police seized assets worth nearly Rs 8 crore, including Rs 2.87 crore in cash, after raiding premises linked to him at different locations. He had been on the run since then.

"Yes, Saurabh Sharma came to the court of Special Judge for Lokayukta cases RP Mishra in the forenoon. Additional District and Sessions Judge Mishra asked him to appear in his court at 11 am on Tuesday," his lawyer Rakesh Parashar told PTI over the phone.

The lawyer said the court gave his client time for want of his case diary (listing charges against him) from the anti-corruption watchdog.

When contacted, MP Lokayukta Police Director General Jaideep Prasad said "Sharma today applied for surrender in the special court. He has not surrendered yet. He just gave an application." After the Lokayukta police raided premises linked to Mr Sharma on December 18 and 19, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and Income Tax Department, too, conducted their own searches and launched parallel investigations.

The Lokayukta police had claimed to have unearthed and seized assets of Rs 7.98 crore, including Rs 2.87 crore in cash and 234 kilograms of silver, during raids at Sharma's places.

Mr Sharma's father was a state government doctor and died in 2015. Afterwards, he got appointed as a constable in the transport department on compassionate grounds in 2015 and took voluntary retirement in 2023, the Lokayukta police said earlier.

The former cop used money amassed through corrupt means to accumulate huge assets. Using the ill-gotten wealth, Mr Sharma set up a school and hotel in the name of his mother, wife, sister-in-law and close associates Chetan Singh Gaud and Sharad Jaiswal, a Lokayuka official said.

During searches at his residence in E-7 Sector of Arera Colony in Bhopal, Rs 1.15 crore in cash (including foreign currency), jewellery of Rs 50 lakh and other assets, including vehicles, valued at Rs 2. 21 crores were recovered by the Lokayukta police, he said.

After raids at his office in the same location, Rs 1.72 crore in cash, 234 kg of silver valued at Rs 2.10 crore and other assets worth Rs 3 crore were also found, he added.

So far, movable assets worth Rs 7.98 crore have been found during searches at locations linked to the former constable, the official told PTI on December 19.

After the raids, summonses were issued to Mr Sharma, his wife, mother and associates Gaud and Jaiswal, asking them to appear for questioning, he said.

The Income Tax department had separately seized cash and gold from Gaud.

In a separate action on December 19, the I-T department seized more than Rs 10 crore in cash and over 50 kg of gold from a car owned by Gaud on the outskirts of Bhopal. 

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