IAS academy has 'no info' on trainee Puja Khedkar as deadline ends

Mumbai, July 23 (IANS) On the final day of a notice by the elite Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) to Maharashtra 2023 cadre IAS Probationary Officer Puja Khedkar, the Mussoorie-based institution had no information on her whereabouts, on Tuesday.

On July 16, the LBSNAA had directed the Maharashtra government to immediately relieve the controversial IAS-PO of her field assignment as 'Super Numerary Assistant Collector', Washim Collectorate and ordered Puja Khedkar to report back to the Academy by July 23 “for further necessary action.”

Official sources at the LBSNAA told IANS that as of July 23 morning, they had “no information” on Puja Khedkar, and declined to elaborate whether she was likely to report back there later in the day or not.

Puja Khedkar, 32, had left Washim around last Friday, purportedly to go to the Pune Police to record her statement on the allegations of harassment she hurled against Pune Collector Suhas Diwase, who had ordered her transfer from Pune Collectorate to Washim in the second week of July.

The IAS-PO had reported to Washim Collectorate and took charge as Assistant Collector on July 11, even as a storm erupted behind Puja Khedkar over a series of allegations and irregularities perpetrated by her in the last few months, shaking the administration.

Later, the state and Centre launched separate probes against her, the Pune Police started its own investigations and the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) initiated criminal proceedings against her, hinting at cancelling Puja Khedkar’s IAS 2022 candidature on July 19.

As per the LBSNAA Deputy Director Shelesh Nawal’s orders, Puja Khedkar was expected to reach and report there today, but her whereabouts remain a mystery in Mumbai, Pune, Washim, New Delhi and Mussoorie.

After the serial exposures on the alleged frauds/irregularities masterminded by Puja Khedkar, even her parents - father Dilip Khedkar who is an ex-state government employee and mother Manorama Khedkar who is an ex-Sarpanch - have come under a cloud in different cases.

While Manorama Khedkar was arrested and is currently in judicial custody, Dilip Khedkar has secured an interim pre-arrest bail till July 25.