Saurabh Sharma’s arrest uncovers massive corruption in Madhya Pradesh, revealing illicit wealth, shell companies, and money laundering.
NEW DELHI: The arrest of Saurabh Sharma, a former constable with the Transport Department in Madhya Pradesh, has exposed the dark underbelly of the rampant corruption in the state.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is investigating the case, has so far seized assets worth Rs 92.07 crore linked to Sharma, who retired from the Transport Department in 2023 with a salary of Rs 28,000 per month.
The scandal broke in December 2024 when the state’s Lokayukta Police raided Sharma’s Arera Colony home and found Rs 1.14 crore in cash, gold and silver jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh, and property documents for benami holdings in Gwalior, Indore, and Bhopal.
A month later, the Income Tax Department intercepted an Innova car near Mendori Village, on the outskirts of Bhopal, and seized Rs 11.6 crore in cash and 51.893 kg of gold bricks (worth Rs 40.27 crore).
The driver, Pyare Lal, told investigators he was acting on Sharma’s orders to hide the vehicle. It was revealed that Pyare Lal had been tasked with concealing the vehicle and its valuable contents as part of efforts to obscure the full scale of Sharma’s wealth.
Additionally, the Rs 92 crore value attached by the Enforcement Directorate is not based on the market value but on the circle rate—the minimum rate set by the government for calculating stamp duty. The circle rate is the lowest value prescribed for property transactions according to government regulations. However, local Madhya Pradesh revenue officials informed The Sunday Guardian that the market value of the properties allegedly purchased by Sharma using his illicit wealth would exceed Rs 1,000 crore in total. For example, a seized double-story independent house in E-7 Arera Colony, built on 4,500 square feet, has been calculated at Rs 1.84 crore, while the actual market price of this property is more than Rs 12 crore.
The attached properties—ranging from gold bars and cash-filled cars to a lavish under-construction school—reveal a shocking trail of illicit wealth, all accumulated while Sharma drew a modest government salary of just Rs 28,000 per month until 2023, when he took Voluntary Retirement Service. Sharma, now in his late 30s, joined the Madhya Pradesh Transport Department in 2016 on compassionate grounds after his father, a government doctor, passed away. For seven years
According to the investigation, by the time he came under the scanner of agencies, Sharma was the owner of a luxury bungalow in Bhopal’s upscale Arera Colony, three petrol pumps on Hoshangabad Road and in Obaidulla Ganj, a Dubai property worth Rs 150 crore under the “M.R. Group Builders,” 18 acres of prime land in Gwalior, and multiple houses in Indore.
But perhaps the most brazen symbol of his alleged corruption was a franchise of the elite Jaipuria School in Shahpura, Bhopal, which he was constructing under the banner of a dubious trust—Rajmata Bharatmata Shiksha Evam Samaj Kalyan Samiti—where his mother, Uma Sharma, was installed as “Chairperson” and his wife, Divya Tiwari, as “Director.”
The ED’s investigation revealed that Sharma’s Jaipuria School project was a front to legitimise black money. The trust, which owned the land in Shahpura, had no credible source of funds for the construction. Instead, Rs 3-4 crore was pumped into the project, mostly in cash, according to statements by Sharma’s associate, Chetan Singh Gaur. Payments to contractors were unrecorded, and loans were taken from shell entities. The school’s franchise fee (Rs 25 lakh) was paid to Jaipuria’s management, but the rest of the funds were untraceable.The
Sunday Guardian reached out to the Jaipuria Group for a response on the following queries:
What role, if any, did Jaipuria School play in the establishment of the franchise in Shahpura, Bhopal?
Can you provide any information or documentation about the financial transactions related to this franchise, including the franchise fee and other payments made to Jaipuria School management?
Was any due diligence conducted to verify the source of funds used in setting up the school?
No response was shared by the given deadline.
A senior ED official, commenting on the trend of ill-gotten money being diverted to educational institutions, said that this has become a rampant practice.
“What Sharma was doing wasn’t philanthropy—it was a money-laundering operation. A constable’s salary could never fund such a project. The educational institutions should have known better,” he said.
Sharma didn’t act alone. His wife, mother, childhood friend, and business partners were all part of the scheme. Divya Tiwari, officially a “homemaker,” had properties worth crores bought in her name and was listed as director in Aviral Enterprises Pvt. Ltd., a shell firm with no real business. She was also linked to another shell company, M/s Skylock Systems Pvt. Ltd., where she held the position of director despite the firm having no apparent business operations.
The name of Lokesh Sadasivam, a hawala operator, surfaced during the investigation as it was believed that he facilitated illegal fund transfers for Sharma. Sharma claimed that Sadasivam played a key role in helping him route black money through dubious transactions, including those involving Skylock Systems. While the company had no visible operations, the ED suspects that Sadasivam helped launder funds through multiple illegal routes, further muddying the trail of Sharma’s wealth. The ED investigation uncovered critical details about the company formed by Sharma’s wife. The investigation suggests that his wife and Lokesh Sadasivam’s mother, S. Kanchana, had jointly started Skylock Systems Pvt. Ltd. However, the company had no real business, leading investigators to suspect it was used as a vehicle for laundering black money.
Uma Sharma, made “chairperson” of the school trust to give it legitimacy, had several lands in Gwalior and Bhopal gifted to her by relatives in suspicious transactions.
Chetan Singh Gaur, Sharma’s childhood friend and frontman, had the Innova car (MP-07-BA-0050) seized with Rs 11.6 crore in cash and 51 kg of gold registered in his name. As per sources, Gaur admitted that all assets were controlled by Sharma, including fisheries contracts and petrol pumps.
Sharad Jaiswal, another business partner, was a director in Aviral Building Constructions Pvt. Ltd., which bought lands worth Rs 6.43 crore in Bhopal and Indore and received Rs 1.45 crore in unsecured loans from Gaur, arranged by Sharma.Further investigations have revealed that Rohit Tiwari, Divya’s brother, was the director of M/s Instant UR Infrastructures Pvt. Ltd., which owned the house at E-7/78 Arera Colony, another key piece in the network of Sharma’s illicit dealings.While Sharma’s political links are an open secret in the corridors of Bhopal, the ED has not named any political entity in its investigation so far.