Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar joins duty in Washim amid complaints of making 'VIP demands' & using 'fake' certificates

Mumbai: Controversial probationary IAS officer Dr Pooja Khedkar,  who was transferred from Pune to Washim, has joined her duties, however, preferred to be mum on the series of allegations that she faces including her caste certificate.

Even as the Maharashtra government has taken the issue seriously, the Prime Minister Office (PMO) and Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA), which trains officers for civil services, have sought reports from the state. 

Dr Khedkar, who had secured an All India Rank 821 in the UPSC exams, is a 2023 batch IAS officer.

Puja got through the IAS under the OBC and PWBD (persons with benchmark disabilities) categories.

Dr Khedkar is daughter of Dilip Khedkar, a retired Maharashtra government officer. 

The senior Khedkar had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha polls from Ahmednagar from Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi. 

When Dr Khedkar joined as supernumerary assistant collector in Washim district, she refused to speak on the issue. “I am not authorised to speak on this,” she said. 

In the recent past, a Pune-based RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar made a series of exposes against Dr Khedkar. 

She was transferred by Pune’s collector and district magistrate Suhas Diwase sent a report to the state government.

As the issue compounded, Pune’s police commissioner Amitesh Kumar assured of action against her. 

The charges against her include flaunting her status, connections and wealth and moving in her personal high-end Audi A4 on which she had unauthorisedly installed a red-blue flashing beacon light, a ‘Maharashtra Government’ sticker and got a VIP registration number allegedly with the help of an outside contractor.