Probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who is under fire for alleged misuse of power and privileges, may be terminated from the service or face criminal charges if found guilty, official sources said.
Khedkar came into the limelight after reports emerged about her alleged demands for a separate office, official car and unauthorised use of a red beacon light on a private Audi car. Questions have also been raised about her Other Backward Classes (non-creamy layer) status.
On Thursday, the Centre constituted a single-member committee "to verify the candidature" of the 2023-batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre. In a statement, the Centre said the probe would be conducted by an additional secretary-rank officer to verify the claims over Khedkar's candidature and other details.
Here are the top developments in the matter:
1. Sources told news agency PTI, "The officer may be terminated from the service if found guilty. She may face criminal charges also in case she is found to have misrepresented a fact or done any sort of manipulation in documents relied upon for her selection."
2. A single-member probe committee of Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, was to submit its report within two weeks.
"The Central Government has constituted a single-member committee, chaired by a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to the Government of India, to verify the candidature claims and other details of IAS Puja Manorma Dilip Khedkar, a candidate of Civil Services Examination 2022 and earlier CSEs. The Committee will submit its report in 2 weeks," read the Ministry of Personnel statement.
3. Meanwhile, a video showing Khedkar's mother threatening a group of men with a gun went viral on Friday. A Pune Rural police official said a probe would begin to ascertain facts, including if she possessed a licence for the firearm.
The two-minute video shows IAS officer's mother Manorama Khedkar, accompanied by her security guards, engaged in a heated argument with the neighbours. Manorama Khedkar can be seen yelling at a man with a pistol in her hand. She walks up to him and waves the gun in his face before concealing it in her hand.
4. Farmer Kuldeep Pasalkar claimed Manorama Khedkar was forcefully trying to usurp his land. "She has been threatening other farmers as well. She visited my plot along with some security guards and started threatening us while holding a firearm in her hand," Pasalkar alleged.
5. Police said they have taken cognisance of the video circulating on social media platforms. "Once facts are ascertained, we will start a probe. We will investigate if Manorama Khedkar has a licence for the firearm," a senior Pune Rural police official was quoted as saying.
6. Puja Khedkar assumed her new role as assistant collector at the Washim District Collectorate in the Vidarbha region on Thursday. She was transferred from Pune where she allegedly bullied everyone around and also placed a red beacon atop a private Audi (a luxury sedan) car used by her that also had 'Maharashtra Government' written on it, PTI reported.
7. The RTO issued a notice to a Pune-based private company, which is the registered owner of the Audi car that Puja Khedkar used during her posting by illegally installing a red beacon light and with 'Maharashtra Government' written on it, an official said.
8. Reacting to the controversy, Puja Khedkar refused to comment on the Centre setting up a panel to probe her candidature. She said she was not authorised to speak on this matter. "I am not authorised to speak anything on this matter. I am not permitted to speak on this matter as per government rule," she added.
9. The IAS trainee was also accused of removing the nameplate of a senior official at the Pune collector's office when he allowed her to use his ante-chamber as her office. She allegedly submitted fake disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates to clear the civil services exam. Reports claimed that she had also submitted a mental illness certificate.
10. In April 2022, she was asked to report at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for verification of her disability certificate, but she did not do so, citing Covid infection.
