Director, assistant director of archaeology dept booked in bribery case

A team from ACB caught assistant director Aarti Mrunal Aley (41) when she was accepting a bribe of Rs 1.5 lakh at her residence in Nashik on Tuesday.

“Though she was caught red handed, Aley has not been arrested on humanitarian grounds as she delivered a baby around eight days ago. She has been served a notice and directed to join the investigation,” said Sharmistha Gharge-Walavalkar, Superintendent of Nashik ACB.

The ACB found during its probe that she was acting on the instructions of Tejas Madan Garge, the director of the State Directorate of Archaeologicy and Museums.

According to the ACB, the complainant in the case wanted to start a small factory for his business of extracting oil from rubber tyres. But as the plant’s location is close to Ramshej Fort, it was mandatory for him to first get a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the Archeology Department, Nashik, before setting up a factory here. He prepared an application for the same and forwarded it to the department.

“Aley processed his application and sent it to the head office. She got all procedures done and also received the clearance to issue the NOC to the complainant,” said an ACB officer.

However, before handing over the NOC to the complainant, she demanded a bribe of Rs 1,50,000 on May 6 for giving the certificate. The complainant then approached ACB.

Accordingly, the ACB laid a trap and caught Aley red handed while accepting the bribe from the complainant on Tuesday.

After the ACB ascertained her superior’s role in the corruption, Tejas Garge was also booked in the case. Probe revealed he was encouraging Aley to take bribes from the complainant, said an ACB officer. A case was registered against the duo at the Indiranagar police station in Nashik city.