The Lokayukta police have seized property worth Rs 80 crore including Rs 3 crore in cash from a former constable of Madhya Pradesh.

The Lokayukta conducted an operation on December 20, 2024 at the house of a former constable of the transport department in Bhopal and recovered 40 kg of silver and bundles of notes. Photo Credit: ANI

A former constable in Madhya Pradesh was found with Rs 2.87 crore in cash and assets worth Rs 7.98 crore, including 234 kg of silver, a top Lokayukta police official said.

The Lokayukta’s Special Police Establishment (SPE) recovered these assets from the premises belonging to ex-jawan Sourav Sharma after conducting searches at his residence and office in Bhopal on December 18 and 19, the official said on Monday (December 23, 2024).

Lokayukta Director General of Police Jaideep Prasad said Mr. Saurabh Sharma’s father RK Sharma was a government doctor and died in 2015.

Subsequently, Mr Saurabh Sharma got appointment as a constable in the State Transport Department on compassionate grounds in 2015 and took voluntary retirement in 2023, he said.

The ex-cop used the money earned through corrupt means to amass huge assets, including setting up a school and hotel in the names of his mother, wife, sister-in-law and close friends Chetan Singh Goud and Sharad Jaiswal, the official said.

During the search of his house in Sector E-7 of Erera Colony, cash of Rs 15 million (including foreign currency), jewelery worth Rs 5 million and vehicles worth Rs 2 crore 21 lakh were recovered. said

Prasad informed that after raiding his office at the same place, Rs 1 crore 72 lakh in cash, 234 kg of silver worth Rs 2 crore 10 lakh and other assets worth Rs 3 crore were found.

So far, searches at the premises belonging to the former constable have found movable property worth ₹ 7.98 crore, said a Lokayukta police official.

Mr Saurabh Sharma, his wife, mother and associates Mr Goud and Mr Jaiswal have been issued summons to appear for questioning, he said.

The Income Tax Department has also seized cash and gold from Goud. Prasad said that the bank details and land documents found during the search are being investigated.

In a separate operation on December 19, the IT department recovered over Rs 10 crore in cash and 50 kg of gold from a car owned by Mr Goud on the outskirts of Bhopal.