Satara town planner, assistant arrested for taking 3 lakh bribe

SATARA: The state anti-corruption bureau has arrested Bharat Nivrutti Shendge (46) and Daji Sada Kolekar (48), town planner and assistant town planner of Satara city, for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 3 lakh to issue a non-agricultural (NA) certificate for land owned by an education society in Satara.
Shendge is a resident of Pune and Kolekar is from Sangli.
Kolekar was caught red-handed, accepting the money on behalf of Shendge around 7.30 pm on Tuesday. "We arrested Shendge on Wednesday," said superintendent of police (anti-corruption bureau) Sarang Awad.
A search was conduced at Kolekar's residence in Sangli. "We found Rs 25,000, several documents regarding land and documents of a flat owned by Kolekar in Navi Mumbai," Awad said. He added that a search was also being conducted at Shendge's residence in Pune.
Nilesh Maruti Mane, a clerk working for the Chhatrapati Shivaji Education society in Mayani in Satara, had lodged a complaint about the bribe with the anti-corruption bureau on July 2.
Awad said the education society intended to start a medical college at Mayani. It had purchased 20 acres of land in Mayani and vice-chairman of the society Appasaheb Deshmukh had given Mane the power of attorney to obtain a non-agricultural certificate for the land. "Mane submitted a proposal in this regard at the divisional office in Phaltan and also applied for the non-agricultural certificate at the town planning office at Satara city," Awad said.
He said that Mane completed all the necessary formalities regarding the non-agricultural certificate and then met Kolekar at his office on June 21. "Kolekar demanded Rs 15,000 per acre (Rs 3 lakh), from Mane to issue the certificate. Kolekar had also asked Mane to meet Shendge in this regard," Awad said.
According to the police superintendent, Shendge told Mane to get the money in two days. However, when Mane told him that it was not possible to raise such a large amount of money in such a short period, Shendge asked him to come with the money on July 3. "Mane later lodged a complaint with the anti-corruption bureau," Awad said.
Assistant commissioner of police Shrihari Patil on Tuesday laid a trap at the town planning office in Satara. When Mane reached the office around 11 am, Kolekar asked him to wait. Around 7.30 pm Kolekar asked Mane to come with him to have a cup of tea. "Kolekar told Mane to give him the money after he sat inside the car. We arrested him while accepting the money," Awad said.
Awad said that officials in the town planning offices would usually accept bribe money through touts so that they would not be caught while accepting the money. In Mane's case, Kolekar had told Mane to use a tout to complete the formalities required for the certificate but Mane had refused and had completed the formalities on his own. "Kolekar had thus been forced demand money from Mane directly. This helped us trap him," Awad said.