Pune: A Pune court on Friday granted bail to former IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar’s mother Manorama in an attempt to murder case which was filed after she was seen in a video allegedly brandishing a gun while confronting a group of people over a land dispute.
Additional Sessions Judge AN Mare granted bail to Manorama Khedkar, a fortnight after she was arrested, and imposed a set of conditions on her, said her counsel advocate Sudhir Shah.
The court asked the accused not to influence witnesses and cooperate in the investigation of the case.
“The applicant shall not contact the informant and witnesses in the case by any mode of communication and shall not try to influence them in any manner,” the order stated.
The order also stated that the applicant shall not enter the jurisdiction of Pune’s Paud police station, where the case has been registered, till the investigation was completed and cooperate in the ongoing probe.
She should attend the police station concerned as and when required by the investigating officer and for such purpose, she can enter its jurisdiction, it said.
The applicant shall not leave Pune district without informing the investigating officer and jurisdictional magistrate till the probe against her was completed, said the court.
Advocate Shah, during his argument on the bail plea, told the court that the application of IPC section 307 (attempt to murder) was unwarranted in the case as no bullet was fired.
The Pune rural police had launched a search for Manorama Khedkar and her husband Dilip, a retired Maharashtra government officer, after a video surfaced showing her allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune’s Mulshi tehsil in 2023.
The video came to light around the time when Puja Khedkar’s selection for civil services was under the scanner.
The police had booked the Khedkar couple and five others under IPC sections, including 307 (attempt to murder), 144 (unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 147 (rioting) and 506 (criminal intimidation) besides invoking the Arms Act.
Manorama Khedkar was apprehended from a lodge in Hirkaniwadi village in Raigad district and placed under arrest in mid-July. Her husband Dilip Khedkar has already secured anticipatory bail in the case.
The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on Wednesday said it had cancelled the provisional candidature of probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar and debarred her from all future examinations or selections.
A day later, a Delhi court denied anticipatory bail to Puja Khedkar, who has been accused of cheating and wrongly availing of OBC and disability quota benefits, saying these are serious allegations that “require a thorough investigation”.
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