Pune: Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkhar’s mother, Manorama, was arrested from Pune’s Mahad in Raigad district for a video that surfaced showing her pointing a gun menacingly at a farmer overa land dispute in the neighbourhood Mulshi’s Taluka. While engaged in the highly inappropriate act, she is seen accompanied by her security guards and shouting at the farmer with the gun aimed at his face.
The farmer, Pandharinath Pasalkar(65) lodged a complaint with the police who registered an FIR against Manorama, Puja’s father Ambadas Khedkar and other unidentified people. The police is also looking to see if the gun in question is licensed.
As per locals, Puja’s father, a retired government servant from Maharashtra, encroached lands adjacent to his property in the area of dispute.
Puja Khedkar is a 2023 batch IAS cadre. Upon her posting in Pune, she demanded a separate office and car for herself and is said to be availing not assignable to a trainee. The Audi car Puja drives is registered to a private company and has a “Maharashtra Sarkar’ Board in front and boasts a red-blue beacon.
After mother’s stunt got viral, Puja’s own credentials, the IAS exam she wrote speficifically, has got under media light. Allegations are being raised that she misused disability and OBC reservation to land the job.
