Ex-IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar’s mother Manorama Khedkar gets bail in criminal intimidation case

Manorama Khedkar — the mother of former probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar — has been granted bail in a criminal intimidation case. The Pune rural police had arrested Khedkar earlier this year after a video of her threatening people with a gun went viral. Her husband — retired Maharashtra government officer Dilip Khedkar — was granted anticipatory bail last week.

Khedkar had made headlines after a video of her threatening people with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village made the rounds on social media. She was was apprehended from a lodge at Hirkaniwadi village in Raigad district on July 18 and later remanded in judicial custody. The Khedkar couple and five others were booked under several sections of the IPC — including 307, 144 (unlawful assembly armed with deadly weapon), 147 (rioting) and 506 (criminal intimidation) — as well as the Arms Act.

The development also comes mere days after the the UPSC said that it had cancelled the provisional candidature of Puja Khedkar and debarred her from all future examinations or selections. 

Puja Khedkar is under scrutiny for her claims regarding disability and OBC certificates in her UPSC candidature as well as her conduct during her tenure at the Pune collector’s office. The Union Public Service Commission has filed a case against the former official for fraudulently availing the benefits of quota by faking her identity to take the civil services examination beyond the permissible number of attempts.

Earlier on Thursday a Delhi court denied anticipatory bail to the former IAS probationer and directed the police to widen their probe.

“Custodial interrogation of the accused is required to unearth the whole conspiracy and to establish involvement of the other persons involved in conspiracy…the Delhi Police must also investigate if anyone from inside the UPSC helped Khedkar,” Additional Sessions Judge Devender Kumar Jangala had said.

(With inputs from agencies)