Facing media trial, truth will prevail, says under-fire IAS officer; Pune cops look for her parents

Mumbai/Pune: The probationary IAS officer in the eye of a storm for alleged misuse of power and manipulating disability and OBC quotas on Monday sidestepped questions related to the ongoing probe against her, saying the truth will eventually prevail, while the Pune police searched for her parents in a separate criminal case.

Junior IAS officer Puja Khedkar, currently posted in Maharashtra's Washim district, alleged a trial by the media after a controversy broke out over her appointment and conduct during her stint in Pune's collectorate.

The 34-year-old Maharashtra cadre officer faces accusations of using fraudulent means to clear her civil services exam, including allegedly misrepresenting herself under the physical disabilities and OBC categories, and misusing power and privileges during her posting in Pune.

Last week, the Centre set up a single-member committee "to verify the candidature" of Puja Khedkar and submit a report in two weeks. The government said the probe would be conducted by an additional secretary-rank officer to verify the candidature claims and other details of the 2023-batch officer.

“I will testify before the committee. I think whatever decision the committee will take should be acceptable to all,” she told reporters in Washim in the Vidarbha region where she was abruptly transferred from Pune last week.

“My job here (in Washim) as a probationer is to work and learn and that is what I am doing. I cannot make any comments on that. The experts of the government (committee) will decide. Neither I nor you (media) or the public can decide,” she maintained.

The junior bureaucrat declined to go into details of the probe she is facing.

“Whenever the decision of the committee comes, it will be public and open to scrutiny. But right now I don’t have any right to tell you about the ongoing investigation,” she insisted.

Asked if she is being targeted, Puja Khedkar remarked, “Everybody knows what is going on.” The Constitution is based on the fact that you are innocent until proven guilty, she said.

“So proving me guilty by media trial is wrong on everybody’s part,” the junior IAS officer asserted.

“Whatever my submission is, I will give it in front of the committee and the truth will come out,” Puja Khedkar said.

Meanwhile, Puja Khedkar's parents, who landed in trouble after a video surfaced showing her mother Manorama allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute in Pune district, remained "untraceable".

A Pune Rural police team visited the bungalow of Manorama and her husband Dilip Khedkar in the Baner area of the city in the morning. But it was unable to enter the premises as there was no response, and doors were locked from inside, an official said.

The police are conducting searches in Pune and other locations, he said.

An FIR was registered against the Khedkar couple and five others after a video showing Manorama Khedkar, a village sarpanch, allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute emerged.

"A case has been registered at the Paud police station (in Pune). But the Khedkars have not visited the police station for inquiry and have turned off their mobile phones. Our teams are looking for them. Once found, they will be questioned, and legal action will be taken against them," the official said.

The Khedkars and five others were booked under relevant sections of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS), including section 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property) and the Arms Act.' The case was registered days after a video surfaced on social media, which showed Manorama Khedkar, accompanied by personal security guards, engaged in a heated argument with some people with a licensed pistol in her hand in Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil.

The viral video clip is reportedly from 2023, but surfaced on social media recently.

The Pune police have issued a show-cause notice to her mother Manorama Khedkar over the alleged misuse of a licensed gun.

Pune Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar issued the notice to Manorama Khedkar, the sarpanch of Ahmednagar’s Bhalgaon village.

Meanwhile, it has now emerged the controversial junior IAS officer had submitted a fitness certificate while securing admission to a private medical college in 2007.

“There was no mention of any disability, whether physical or mental, in the medical fitness certificate submitted by Puja Khedkar when she joined our college in 2007,” said Dr Arvind Bhore, director of the Pune-based Kashibai Navale Medical College.

“She had submitted certificate showing she is from NT (Nomadic Tribes) category and from the Vanjari community. She had submitted caste and non-creamy layer certificates,” Bhore told Marathi TV channel ABP Majha.

An official said documents presented by her to secure candidature in civil services examination and then for selection in the IAS will be re-examined by the Centre-appointed probe panel.