‘ ₹40 crore, Audi with red beacon, fake illness’: What is IAS officer Puja Khedkar accused of?

The Pune police on Thursday reached the house of the controversial trainee IAS officer, Puja Khedkar, to examine the Audi car she had been using in alleged violation of the service rules.

“The Pune Police will verify/examine the Audi Car which Trainee IAS Officer Pooja Khedkar was using,” Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said.

Puja Khedkar, a probationary IAS officer who secured an all-India rank of 821 in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams, has been transferred from Pune to the Washim district of Maharashtra.

What are the accusations against Puja Khedkar?

She is accused of misusing her authority.

According to reports, she was posted as an assistant collector in Pune. She was found to have availed facilities not allowed to probationary officers.

She allegedly used a red-blue beacon and a Maharashtra government board on her private Audi car.

She also occupied the chamber of additional collector Ajay More without permission. She reportedly removed office furniture without the officer’s consent.

Puja Khedkar was transferred after Pune collector Suhas Divase wrote a letter to the chief secretary of Maharashtra.

According to some reports, Khedkar’s father – a retired administrative officer who recently contested the Lok Sabha election from the Ahmednagar seat – allegedly pressured the district collector’s office to fulfil his daughter’s demands.

Meanwhile, Vijay Kumbhar, an RTI activist, claimed Puja Khedkar’s appointment was questionable. He said she didn’t fall under the OBC non-creamy layer category because her father had assets worth ₹40 crore.

“As per the rules, only those come under the OBC non-creme layer category whose parents are under 8 lac per annum of income, but their income shows that it is 40 crore. Her parents contested the recent Lok Sabha polls and all the property details are there in the affidavit,” he said.

An official told the media that Pooja Khedkar, a 2022 batch IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre, allegedly submitted fake disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates to clear the civil services exam.

Khedkar appeared for the civil services exam under the OBC and visually impaired categories, the official said, adding she also submitted a mental illness certificate. 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, the official added.