The Centre has initiated a thorough probe into the induction of probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who is at the centre of a controversy over alleged misuse of power and privileges, and that her services may be terminated.
They said all documents presented by her to secure her candidature in the Civil Services examination and then for selection in the service will be re-examined by a single-member committee constituted by the Centre on Thursday.
“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,” sources said.
Khedkar, a 2023 batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, is under probation and currently posted in her home cadre Maharashtra.
The 34-year-old officer is in the eye of storm over for allegedly misusing the disability and Other Backward Class quota to secure a position in the IAS.
The single-member probe committee of Manoj Kumar Dwivedi, Additional Secretary in the Department of Personnel and Training, has been asked to submit its report within two weeks, the sources said.
In the meantime, Khedkar had on Thursday assumed her new role as Assistant Collector at the Washim District Collectorate in the Vidarbha region after being transferred from Pune where she allegedly bullied everyone around and also placed a red beacon atop her private Audi (a luxury sedan) car.
Khedkar has been under intense scrutiny for allegedly manipulating benefits under the physical disabilities category and OBC quota to secure her position in the Indian Administrative Service.
The controversial officer was shunted out to Washim after Pune District Collector Suhas Diwase wrote to State Additional Chief Secretary Nitin Gadre requesting him to consider giving a posting to Khedkar in another district to avoid “administrative complications”.
Diwase had sought action against Khedkar for her behaviour, including alleged aggressive treatment of junior staff, illegal occupation of the ante-chamber of Additional Collector Ajay More, and violations pertaining to sporting a red beacon on the Audi and flashing it during the day, among others.
Also, a video showing Khedkar’s mother threatening a group of men with a gun has gone viral has added to the woes of the controversial bureaucrat. A Pune Rural police official later in the evening said a probe would begin to ascertain facts, including if she possessed a licence for the firearm.
An official said the incident in the video was about a land parcel bought by Puja’s father Dilip khedkar, a retired Maharashtra Government officer, in Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil. Locals had claimed the Khedkars had encroached on the land of neighbouring farmers.
The two-minute video shows Khedkar’s mother Manorama Khedkar, accompanied by her security guards, engaged in a heated argument with the neighbours. Manorama 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.
“We have taken cognisance of the video that is circulating on social media platforms. Once facts are ascertained, we will start a probe. We will investigate if Manorama has a licence for the firearm,” a senior Pune Rural police official said.
In connection with the episode, farmer Kuldeep Pasalkar claimed Manorama 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.
