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FIR against Puja Khedkar’s father for obstructing government work
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had recently cancelled the selection of Puja and permanently debarred her from all its future exams and selections
The Bund Garden Police have registered a case against Dilip Khedkar, the father of former probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, on charges of threatening and obstructing a public servant in the discharge of duty, officials said on Friday. The complainant is a tehsildar-rank officer at the Pune district collectorate.
“The complaint states that during Puja’s posting as an assistant collector, Dilip allegedly used threatening language against tehsildar Deepak Akade, asking him to allot a cabin for his daughter even as he had no right to interfere in the administrative functioning,” an official said.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) had recently cancelled the selection of Puja and permanently debarred her from all its future exams and selections. Accused of “misrepresenting information” in her application for the UPSC Civil Services Examination, 2022, she is currently untraceable after an FIR was registered against her in Delhi.
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The barred 2023 batch officer is also accused of misusing power and privileges by demanding perks and facilities she was not entitled for during her training at the Pune district collectorate.
“We have registered a case against Dilip Khedkar under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of his public functions), 504 (intentional insult) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the FIR filed on Thursday,” said Smartana Patil, deputy commissioner of police (Zone II) regarding the incident that took place in June this year.
Pune district collector Dr Suhas Diwase in his letter written to the state government in June had stated that Puja was once accompanied to the collectorate by her retired bureaucrat father. Subsequently, Dilip allegedly threatened a senior officer on the phone that his daughter was being deliberately troubled and “those doing it would pay the consequences in future”.
Diwase’s letter stated, “In the entire episode, Puja Khedkar’s father’s behaviour is objectionable and deserves action.”
Meanwhile, the Paud police had also booked a case of criminal intimidation against Dilip, a retired government official, in which his wife Manorama was accused of toting a gun at a person at Dhadawali village under the Mulshi tehsil on June 5, 2023 over a land dispute. While Dilip was granted anticipatory bail in the case, Pune Rural Police arrested Manorama from a hotel in Mahad in Raigad district after being on the run and released her on bail by the court recently.
