Puja Khedkar’s letter details to govt surface: ‘Collector subjected me to…’

Puja Khedkar, the ex-trainee IAS officer caught amid controversy, has come to the limelight again ahead of the Delhi high court hearing on August 12. A bench presided over by Justice Subramonium Prasad is set to hear Puja Khadekar's anticipatory bail plea tomorrow. Ahead of the hearing, a letter dated July 11 addressed to the Additional Chief Secretary of Maharashtra has surfaced.

The former probationary officer who allegedly faked her identity to gain more attempts than permitted in the civil services examination first made headlines last month when she tried to misuse power as a civil servant. She had illegally installed a red-blue beacon light and VIP number plate on her private Audi car.

She has also been accused of removing the nameplate of a senior official at the Pune collector's office who voluntarily offered her to use his ante-chamber as office space.

Puja Khedkar, whose Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature was recently cancelled, accused Pune Collector Suhas Diwase of inflicting “insults” since her first day of training at the Pune District Collectorate, reported The Indian Express citing the letter.

In the three-page letter, written last month, she noted that she was extremely disturbed after Diwase complained to the higher authorities about the former IAS trainee's “entitled behaviour” and the subsequent media coverage regarding it.

The letter in Marathi states, "Because of this [media coverage], my image has become that of an arrogant officer in the public’s eye. This is causing me mental trauma, and I am extremely disturbed…I don’t know the reason, but since the day I joined as a probationary officer, the Pune Collector has been subjecting me to insults,” reported The Indian Express.

“The staff enquired about my needs and arranged the stationery, etc. After District Collector Diwase sir returned to the office a day later, someone informed him about my sitting arrangement in the ante-chamber of the additional collector," the letter read. Puja Khedkar alleged that Suhas Diwase was angered by the new arrangement and summoned the tehsildar concerned to remove her furniture from the ante-chamber.

Puja Khedkar alleged that she apologised to the Pune Collector and told him that she would accept any decision he made regarding her seating arrangement. To her dismay, her requests were not addressed. However, Suhas Diwase denied all the allegations and called them “nonsensical”.