The Pune Rural Police on Thursday detained the controversial IAS-Probationary Officer Puja Khedkar’s mother, Manorama Khedkar, who was allegedly seen threatening farmers with a gun.
Manorama was taken into custody from a hotel in Raigad district. The police had registered a case under the Arms Act against her. Puja Khedkar’s parents Manorama and Dilip Khedkar have been absconding for the last few days after police registered an FIR against them over a video purportedly showing Manorama threatening some individuals with a gun following a land dispute in Mulshi tehsil of Pune district.
Paud police in Pune rural have booked the Khedkar couple and five others under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections, including 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property).
Manorama allegedly threatened farmers with a pistol in a bid to force them to sell their land. Videos of the incident, which took place around two months back in the Mulshi region, have surfaced now showing a menacing Manorama D Khedkar first flashing and then pointing a pistol and indulging in a heated argument with farmers over a land issue.
Accompanied by a professional team of male bouncers and female security personnel, Manorama Khedkar had a heated exchange with the farmer, all the while brandishing the weapon at him. The aggrieved farmers of the area later claimed they were making efforts to lodge a complaint with the police on the incident, but were not entertained, reportedly owing to political pressure.
However, now they have demanded a thorough investigation into that harrowing incident.
As per records of their assets, the Khedkar family owns over 25 acres of land in Pune and sought to augment their holdings there by compelling neighbouring tillers to sell off their lands, but most have resisted the efforts.
Recently, another controversial video of Manorama emerged, in which she could be seen arguing with Pune metro officials and police personnel over construction materials kept near her bungalow. The 2022 video was shot outside the Khedkar family’s bungalow on Baner Road in Pune.
Notably, Puja Khedkar made the headline recently after she was accused of using fake disability and OBC certificates to pass the civil services exam, as well as her conduct during her tenure at the Pune collector’s office. The controversy surrounding her selection brought the Khedkar family into the spotlight.
She was subsequently transferred to Washim from Pune. However, the government on Tuesday put on hold the district training programme of the controversial IAS officer as she was summoned back to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in Uttarakhand’s Mussoorie for “necessary action”.
A letter by Maharashtra additional chief secretary Nitin Gadre said the academy had decided to put her district training programme on hold, and immediately recalled her.
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