'Power of one man has made Guj bureaucrats impotent'

In a veiled attack on Chief Minister Narendra Modi, suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma said on Tuesday that in Gujarat power lies with only one man and claimed that he and his brother, an IPS officer, were being "targeted" by the state government.

"In Gujarat, power lies in hands of one person only. There is no decentralised power, which is very dangerous," Sharma, brother of IPS officer Kuldeep Sharma who has openly spoken against the chief minister and the state government over various issues, said without naming Modi.

"In Gujarat, democracy has been brutally murdered, while the bureaucrats here have become impotent who cannot raise their voices," he told mediapersons.

Sharma is presently out on bail after being arrested in as many as eight cases of corruption against him during his tenure as Kutch collector. All cases are being probed by state CID.

"I and my brother are being targeted by the state government," he alleged after coming out of court which rejected an application by state CID seeking his custody for interrogation in one of these cases.

The CID's plea was turned down the sessions judge N T Acharya saying that the agency cannot seek custody after more than a year of registering an FIR.

"We will break but never bow down to such diktat," the suspended IAS officer, who had recently got bail after being in police custody for over one year, said.

Sharma said that he had done nothing wrong, as being alleged by the state government.

"What I have done is for development. My 31-year career has been spotless and all of a sudden there are as many as eight cases of corruption against me. This clearly shows the bias against me by the government," he said.

Sharma has been accused of allotting land meant for 2001 earthquake affected at throw away prices to businessmen. He has also been accused of taking favours from industries which got set up in Kutch district after the quake in 2001.