Complaint seeks open inquiry by ACB against Puja Khedkar’s father

Pune: The Pune ACB has received a complaint seeking an open inquiry against Dilip Khedkar, a retired government officer and father of controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, in connection with alleged disproportionate assets, a senior official said.

As there is already an inquiry underway by the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s Nashik division against him into the alleged disproportionate assets, the Pune unit of the anti-graft agency has sought directions from the ACB headquarters.

“An open inquiry against Dilip Khedkar is currently underway at the Ahmednagar unit by Nashik ACB. We have now received another complaint seeking an open inquiry. We have recorded the complainant’s statement and forwarded the complaint to ACB headquarters along with the evidence,” Pune ACB Superintendent of Police Amol Tambe said on Wednesday.

He said directions have been sought from the ACB headquarters to either incorporate the fresh complaint into the ongoing probe or whether to conduct a separate open inquiry.

Dilip Khedkar and his wife Manorama Khedkar have remained untraceable after police registered an FIR against them over a video purportedly showing Manorama threatening some persons with a gun following a land dispute in Mulshi tehsil of Pune district.

The 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).

A two-minute video shows Manorama Khedkar wielding a pistol, accompanied by her security guards, engaged in a heated argument with some persons in Dhadwali village.

Puja Khedkar, the 2023-batch IAS officer, is under scrutiny for her claims regarding disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates in her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature, as well as her conduct during tenure at the Pune collector’s office.

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”.