An aspiring IAS officer, Puja Khedkar, is in the news for an alleged scam in which she fraudulently got herself nominated under the disabled quota of the UPSC. In a news clip from one of the new agencies, it is reported that Puja Khedkar deliberately provided a fake ration card and the wrong address to get a disability certificate from the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCM) in Pune. She provided the address of plot number 53, Dehu-Alandi, Talwade, in the Pimpri Chinchwad region – the locus of the now-defunct company called Thermoverita Engineering Private Ltd.
The documents, the report claims, indicate that the fake address was then used to obtain another fake ration card that enabled the issuance of the disability certificate with the abuse citing a seven percent locomotor disability in the knee on August 24, 2022.
Accusations on Puja Khedkar
Adding to this, the actual car that incriminates the defendants is an Audi car, and the registration of this car belongs to Thermoverita Engineering, the company that operates from the fake address. The outstanding tax collections in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipality, which are receivable to the tax department, stand at ₹2.7 lakh, the amount that remained unpaid by the now-closed company for the last three years.
Besides these allegations, there are also charges against Puja Khedkar involving the abuse of authority and allegedly threatening police officials. The ACB has given a detailed report where Dilip Khedkar, who is Puja’s father, worked as the director of the MPCB till 2020 and is accused of accumulation of assets, which needs to be probed for being disproportionate.
Actions by Administration
Following the state that Puja Khedkar has been transferred to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, her training has been held or suspended, and she awaits her punishment. However, Khedkar has categorically denied the allegations, labeling them as fake news and expressing her innocence. She has even sought legal proceedings; she has filed a harassment case against the Pune district collector who transferred her to Washim.
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