Bhopal, Jan 28 (IANS) Ex-RTO constable Saurabh Sharma, who is facing charges of amassing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income, was arrested by Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta police from Bhopal on Tuesday.
Sharma, who has been absconding since raids at his premises, was supposed to surrender before the Bhopal district court in the morning.
“Lokayukta Police arrested him (Saurabh Sharma) from outside the court premises,” Sharma’s advocate Rakesh Parasar told IANS.
Sharma moved the surrender application before a special Lokayukta court through his advocate Suryakant Bhujade on Monday.
The court has directed him to be present in the court on Tuesday at 11 am. Before Sharma moved a surrender application, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned Sharma’s family members, including his wife and mother in connection with the money laundering case.
However, after a few hours of questioning, the ED allowed them to go.
Earlier, Sharma’s advocate told the media that he would surrender if the state government ensured his safety.
The Advocate had also said that the recovered money and other valuables, including 52 kg gold and documents of properties, did not belong to him and he was ready to cooperate with the agencies investigating against him.
Multiple agencies — Madhya Pradesh Lokayukta, Income Tax and Enforcement Directorate teams conducted several raids in the past two and half months in different parts of the state, including Bhopal, Gwalior and Jabalpur in connection with the case.
In the past month, ED raided more than 12 offices and premises belonging to Sharma’s relatives suspected to be connected to the case.
Sharma was appointed constable in the Transport Department in 2016 on compassionate grounds after his father, a government doctor died in 2015.
He worked as an RTO constable for 12 years and took a voluntary retirement from services (VRS) in 2023. The official said Sharma’s application to take voluntary retirement was accepted in 2023 even though an inquiry was pending against him.
Last week, Sharma’s close aide Sharad Jaiswal’s advocate had also told media persons that Jaiswal was ready to surrender before the court if the state government ensured his safety.
–IANS
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