‘When IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s mother was set to pull gun trigger…’: What Pune Police told court

Justifying the addition of IPC section 307 in the FIR against Manorama Khedkar, mother of IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, the Pune Police on Thursday told a court in Maharashtra that the accused had put the gun on the complainant’s head.

When she was about to pull the trigger, the complainant ducked in fear, while the other accused restrained her, the prosecutor told the court, news agency PTI reported.

Seeking Manorama Khedkar’s custody for five days in a land dispute case, the Pune Police described she, her husband Dilip and three others, all shown as accused in the FIR, as “influential and politically active” persons, in the court in Paud that remanded her in police custody till July 20, PTI reported.

Earlier on Thursday, the Pune Rural Police detained Manorama Khedkar from a lodge in Raigad district’s Mahad and brought to the Paud Police station before being placed under arrest, superintendent of police, Pune Rural, Pankaj Deshmukh, had said earlier.

Pandharinath Pasalkar, 65, a farmer from Dhadwali registered a First Information Report (FIR) against Manorama Khedkar, her husband Diliprao Khedkar, and several other unidentified persons under sections 323, 504, 506, 143, 144, 147, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections of the Arms Act. The Pune Rural Police have also invoked Section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) against her.

The police had launched a search for Manorama and Dilip Khedkar after a video surfaced showing her allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil in 2023.

Manorama, her husband Dilip and three others have been accused of threatening one Pandharinath Pasalkar with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil on June 4, 2023.

The police alleged that Manorama was neither cooperating with the investigators nor sharing information concerning the whereabouts of Dilip Khedkar and the other three accused, and details about the pistol and the four-wheeler used in the crime.

Calling the accused “influential and politically active” persons, the police said they wanted to confiscate the weapon and needed her custodial interrogation for that purpose. The prosecution also said police wanted to trace the other accused in the case.

Defence counsel Nikhil Malani opposed the prosecution’s petition for police custody, contending that Manorama had filed a case against the complainant in this matter. A chargesheet was also filed in that case, he said.

“The present complainant was on the backfoot (due to the case filed against him). But after a video went viral on social media recently, he came forward and filed a case against his client,” said Malani.

He argued that when the case was first registered against his client, all the sections in the FIR were non-bailable but the police abruptly added IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) on July 17. Since it is a non-bailable section, she was arrested, he said.

He told the court that the case against Manorama was an “afterthought” as it was registered 13 months after the alleged incident.

“There are no valid apprehensions or contentions regarding 307 (attempt to murder) in the FIR,” he said.

After hearing both sides, the court remanded Manorama in police custody till July 20.

Who is Puja Khedkar and what’s the controversy?
Puja Khedkar is under scrutiny for her claims regarding disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates in her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature, as well as her conduct during her tenure at the Pune collector’s office.

Amid the row, the government on Tuesday put on hold the ‘district training program’ of Puja Khedkar, who was earlier transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune, as she was summoned back to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for “necessary action”.

The Pune Anti-Corruption Bureau unit has received a complaint seeking an open inquiry against Puja Khedkar’s father Dilip Khedkar, a retired government official, in connection with alleged disproportionate assets, a senior official told PTI on Wednesday.

There is already an inquiry underway by the ACB’s Nashik division against him into the alleged disproportionate assets.

Hence, the Pune unit of the anti-graft agency has sought directions from the ACB headquarters to either incorporate the fresh complaint into the ongoing probe or whether to conduct a separate open inquiry, the official said.