Ahmedabad: Thieves have allegedly stolen cash and other articles worth Rs 55,000 from suspended IAS officer Pradeep Sharma's bungalow in Gandhinagar, police said yesterday.  Sharma himself lodged a complaint with the Sector-7 police station today evening after learning about the theft. 

In his complaint, Sharma said that his house in Sector-1 of the Gujarat state capital was locked since February 25, ever since he had gone out for some work until he returned today.

According to Sharma's complaint, thieves have stolen cash and other articles worth Rs 55,000, including Rs 7,000 cash, one mobile phone, a wrist watch and two engagement rings from his pouch, which was kept in a cupboard.  Primary investigation by the police revealed that thieves broke into the house from the gallery of the first floor of the house.

“We believe that thieves might have stepped on the main gate to reach the gallery of a room on the first floor. They went inside the room by breaking the door. They also broke open the internal lock of the cupboard and stole articles and cash,” Sector-7 police station sub-inspector M P Chauhan, who is probing the case, said.

Sharma came out on bail recently in a graft case, where he has been accused of giving away land to a private company at a rate lower than prevailing market rates when he was collector of Kutch.