Maharashtra | Controversial IAS officer Puja Khedkar's cup of woes brimming

Troubles are mounting for controversial IAS officer Puja Khedkar in Maharashtra as she is now facing fresh scrutiny after a discrepancy came to the fore in her age in official documents.

Details provided by Khedkar for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2020 and the UPSC exam in 2023 show only a one-year age difference, despite a three-year gap between the applications, reveal documents accessed exclusively by India Today TV.

Moreover, Khedkar used slightly different names on the applications - Khedkar Puja Deeliprao in 2020 and Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar in 2023.

A 34-year-old IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Khedkar is already facing the heat for allegedly misrepresenting herself under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) category and Other Backward Class (OBC) category to qualify for the civil service exam. She is also accused of misusing her position during her posting in Pune.

Certificates under scanner

Pune police are currently examining the authenticity of medical certificates submitted by Khedkar, one of which claimed visual impairment under the PwBD provision.

It has come to light that Khedkar had applied for disability certificates in two Pune hospitals in August 2022 despite having disability certificates for low vision and mental depression from another district hospital in Ahmednagar.

According to media reports, she applied for disability certificates for locomotor disability from both the District Civil Hospital in Aundh and Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital in Pune.

What is shocking is that Khedkar had already obtained disability certificates for low vision in 2018 and for mental depression and low vision in 2021 from Ahmednagar district hospital.

The District Civil Hospital in Aundh in Pune rejected her application due to “double submission”, while Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital in Pimpri granted her a 7 per cent locomotor disability certificate based on an old ACL tear.

‘Medically fit’ in 2007

Interestingly, amid these allegations, a doctor’s certificate submitted by Khedkar for admission to a Pune medical college in 2007 has surfaced, which declares her “medically fit” with no apparent disability.

“There was no mention of any disability, whether physical or mental, in the medical fitness certificate submitted by Puja Khedkar,” Dr Arvind Bhore, director of the Kashibai Navale Medical College in Pune, told news agency PTI.

Currently posted in Washim district, Khedkar had submitted to the UPSC multiple medical certificates, one of them indicating visual impairment, under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) provision.

Centre sets up panel

The Office of the Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities has written a letter to the Pune police and the district collectorate to verify the certificates submitted by Khedkar.

A senior police official said, “We have received a letter from the Office of the Commissioner for Persons With Disabilities. They have asked us to check the authenticity of certificates submitted by Puja Khedkar. We will verify the facts about these certificates, from where they were obtained, which doctor or hospitals certified them will also be scanned.”

Last week, the Centre set up a single-member committee “to verify the candidature” of 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 IAS officer.

Reaches out to police

Meanwhile, the trainee IAS officer on Monday reached out to police in Maharashtra’s Washim where she is posted now. Sources said a team reached her residence on Monday night.

The cops, three women officers, arrived at her home at 11 pm. They left after a couple of hours. However, it is unclear what transpired in that meeting, though sources told NDTV that Khedkar requested the meeting, claiming she had information to share on “certain matters”.

Khedkar, whose parents are now roiled in cases too, had so far declined to comment on the controversy surrounding her, insisting that “government rules” forbade her from making a statement. However, she hit out at what she termed “media trial” against her on Monday.

“Our Indian Constitution is based on the fact innocent until proven guilty. So, media trial proving me guilty is actually wrong. It is the basic right of everyone. You can say it is alleged but proving me guilty like this is wrong,” she said.

Parents on the run

The Pune police have also been searching for her parents in a separate criminal case.

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

The Pune police on Sunday confiscated a luxury car used by Puja Khedkar by allegedly installing a red beacon light on it illegally.