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 in her hand in an old video.
Manorama was taken into custody from Mahad in Raigad district. Pune Rural 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 Pune farmers with a pistol in a bid to force him to sell his 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.
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.
Notably, Puja Khedkar made the headlines 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.
Amid the row, the government on Tuesday put on hold the ‘district training program’ of Khedkar, who was earlier transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune, as she was summoned back to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for “necessary action”.