Puja Khedkar’s mother Manorama charged with attempt to murder after gun brandishing viral video

Controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar's mother Manorama Khedkar has been charged with attempt to murder in connection with a viral video where she's seen brandishing a gun and arguing with some persons over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune's Mulshi tehsil.

A search operation was launched after the video went viral. Manorama was arrested on Thursday, July 18, from a lodge in Mahad in Raigad district in the morning where she was hiding, police said.

“Manorama Khedkar was apprehended from Mahad in Raigad district and she was brought to Paud where, after the completion of formalities, she was placed under arrest," Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Pankaj Deshmukh, had said earlier.

The video of Manorama waving the firearm surfaced after Puja Khedkar came under scrutiny for demanding perks – separate office and official car – not available to an on-probation officer, leading to a series of revelations about her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidacy and her family. She has also been under radar over claims over her disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificate that she used to get into civil services.

Meanwhile, Manorama Khedkar has been remanded to police custody till July 20 after she was arrested for allegedly threatening some persons with a gun. Puja Khedkar's father Dilip Khedkar, a retired government official, too has been under scrutiny in connection with alleged disproportionate assets.

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), and relevant provisions of the Arms act.

Amid the row, the government on Tuesday, July 16, put on hold the 'district training program' of Puja Khedkar, who was earlier transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune. She has been summoned back to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for “necessary action.”

“You are hereby relieved from the district training programme of the state government of Maharashtra. You are instructed to join the academy at the earliest but not later than 23rd July 2024 under any circumstance,” the letter addressed to Khedkar said.