The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has filed a First Information Report (FIR) against Puja Khedkar, an IAS trainee, on charges of cheating. She is accused of providing false certifications to get her job and requesting special treatment at work. In addition, the commission has served Khedkar with a show-cause notice, requesting an explanation for why her nomination as an IAS officer should not be revoked in view of the charges pertaining to falsified certificates, following an exhaustive investigation in which the UPSC declared her guilty. Khedkar has also been the subject of a formal complaint (FIR) filed by the Delhi Police crime branch, alleging cheating and forgery under the IT Act.
Last week, a news outlet stated that she would be subject to harsh measures, including termination.
Replying to it, Khedkar told: “The judiciary will take its own course…whatever there is, I will reply to it.”
Khedkar, a Maharashtra cadre Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer for the 2023 batch, is facing accusations of fabricating her medical and caste certifications. The 34-year-old IAS official gained notoriety for her purported demands for a separate workspace, employees, and living accommodations, all of which are outside of her probationary status. The Maharashtra government’s emblem and a red beacon that she allegedly used on her private Audi are being investigated by Pune police.
Puja Khedkar, an IAS probationer, was discovered by the UPSC to have falsified her identity and broken test regulations.
The UPSC said, “The UPSC has conducted a detailed and thorough investigation in the misdemeanor of Ms Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar provisionally recommended candidate of the civil services examination. From the investigation it has been revealed that she fraudulently availed attempts beyond the permissible limits under the examination rules by faking her identity by way of changing her name, her father’s and mother’s name, her photograph, signature, e-mail ID, mobile number and address.”
The commission said: “The UPSC has therefore initiated a series of actions against her including criminal prosecution by filing an FIR and issuing a show-cause notice (SCN) for cancellation of her candidature and debarment from future examination/selection.”
In its official statement on the FIR, the Delhi Police said, “The UPSC has filed a complaint with Delhi Police against Ms. Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar for misrepresenting and falsifying facts to obtain extra attempts in the UPSC examinations, beyond the prescribed limit. Consequently, a case has been registered under the relevant sections of the law, and investigation has been taken up in Crime Branch.”
Her disability certificate, which she sent to the UPSC, is the subject of another significant accusation. She claimed to be mentally and visually impaired to the UPSC, according to media sources, in order to receive special consideration during the selection process. However, she repeatedly declined to go through medical testing; even candidates for the UPSC who are very gifted and pass the competitive exam must go through medical testing. She then filed in an MRI report, which was accepted after initially being rejected.
Her assertion on her employment application that she was a member of the OBC non-creamy layer, which would have influenced her selection, is also being questioned. According to Pune RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar, Khedkar’s father, a retired administrative official who ran unsuccessfully for Lok Sabha in 2024, has assets valued at Rs. 40 crore. The OBC non-creamy layer category’s quota criterion is Rs. 8 lakh in annual income.
Khedkar was moved from Pune, where she was employed as an assistant collector, to Washim last week. She passed the UPSC test in 2023 with an all-India rank of 841, and she is presently subject to a 24-month probationary period.
The Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) has received the report on the Khedkar matter from the Maharashtra government. DoPT had sent the state a number of queries, and the state had provided answers to them. The state has finished its investigation. The committee constituted by the Centre will now investigate it.
Amidst the ongoing legal issues involving his family, Dilip Khedkar, a retired government officer and Khedkar’s father, has applied for anticipatory bail at the sessions court. This move follows the arrest of his wife, Manorama, by Pune Police on Thursday for allegedly threatening a farmer at gunpoint about a year ago. The PCMC on Friday sealed a factory in Pimpri-Chinchwad, which is owned by Manorama Khedkar.
