Mounted atop the Audi is a red and blue beacon with an improper VIP number plate and an unauthorised Maharashtra government insignia—all signs of State power. The car belongs to trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar and was seized by Pune police due to 21 traffic violations.
The car and its violations memo underline the hunger for power that exists among millions of Indians—not just Khedkar. She is now the fulcrum of everything that can possibly go wrong vis-a-vis induction into UPSC and the desperation Indians carry to crack the exam, even if it means a dozen attempts and unfair means.
Khedkar’s gripping tale of alleged misuse of power and privilege has stirred a nationwide debate on ethics and transparency in public service. Accusations of misconduct and impropriety now cast a shadow over her career, raising several questions on how Khedkar managed to manipulate the UPSC and the Department of Personnel & Training and clear the different levels of verification that led to her selection into the IAS. The case also spotlights the lengths Indians go to find a place in the circle of powerful decision-makers. And that is why Puja Khedkar’s case is ThePrint Newsmaker of the Week.
During its investigation, the UPSC found that Khedkar had faked her identity by changing her name, her father’s and mother’s name, her photograph, signature, address, email ID, and mobile number. It has now issued a notice to cancel her selection. This comes two days after she was called back to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy Of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie and her training programme was put on hold.
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How it all started
The controversy began when it emerged that Khedkar was allegedly harassing officers three months into her probation by demanding an official car with a VIP number plate, a red beacon and an official chamber with adequate staff. What started as a standard transfer following accusations of power misuse quickly escalated, prompting further scrutiny of her disability certificate and the criteria used for her selection.
Khedkar cracked the 2022 UPSC Civil Services Examination with a rank of 821 and was assigned to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) under the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons with Disability (PwD) quotas.
On Friday, the UPSC took decisive action against the trainee IAS officer, filing a criminal case and issuing a show-cause notice for the cancellation of her candidature from the Civil Services Examination 2022. Additionally, she faces potential debarment from all future examinations and selections, marking a significant escalation in the ongoing controversy.
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Undermines the selection process
To secure her position despite a modest rank, Khedkar used a disability certificate where she claimed multiple disabilities. She also allegedly submitted an OBC non-creamy layer certificate, implying that her family’s annual income is less than Rs 8 lakh.
Glaring discrepancies have now emerged. According to her asset declaration statement, which every successful candidate has to give after joining the LBSNAA for the mandatory two-year training, she declared immovable assets of Rs 22 crore.
Her father, Dilip Kondiba Khedkar, who contested the Maharashtra Lok Sabha election from Ahmednagar constituency in 2024, declared total assets of Rs 40 crore in his affidavit submitted to the Election Commission of India. Khedkar, a retired Maharashtra Pollution Control Board officer, who contested as a candidate for Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi, lost. He was suspended twice by the Maharastra government, both times over allegations of bribery and corruption.
Her mother, Manorama Khedkar, is a sarpanch of Bhalgaon, a village in Maharashtra. She was booked last week for brandishing a gun at farmers after a video of the incident went viral. She was arrested on Thursday from Raigad, where she was staying in a lodge under a fake name.
The OBC certificate along with half-a-dozen other documents, including date of birth and mark sheets, are verified first by the UPSC, which then sends it to the DoPT after a candidate makes it to the IAS. The document verification process at the DoPT is rigorous. It carries out police verification to check the candidate’s antecedents. All other certificates, including the OBC certificates, go through multiple layers of verification.
Several former and serving bureaucrats have questioned how Khedkar’s fake documents passed scrutiny.
It highlights a systemic failure in verifying eligibility for reserved categories, exposing a lapse in oversight that undermines the integrity of the selection process. Probably why the Commission has been quick to act.
Khedkar’s disability certificate has been questioned too. According to the certificate issued by Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital, Pune in 2022, she has a ‘locomotor disability’, the extent of which is reportedly seven per cent.
A few media reports claim she had previously submitted two other certificates to the UPSC in 2018 and 2021, which were rejected after medical tests.
Additionally, despite the government’s mandate for submitting Aadhaar to obtain disability certificates, Khedkar reportedly submitted a ration card. How she got away with it is a matter of a separate probe and throws a larger question on recruitment processes.
Another hoop she managed to jump through is the percentage of disability required to avail reservation. She was given the relaxation under the “person with benchmark disability”, which is meant for someone with “not less than 40 per cent” disability but her certificate from the Pune hospital specifies her disability at seven per cent.
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New twists everyday
New revelations continue to emerge, including allegations that Khedkar pressured police to release a man detained in a theft case and appeared for the UPSC exam 12 times, using different names, photographs, signatures, addresses, email IDs, and mobile numbers.
General category candidates are allowed six attempts till the age of 32, those appearing under the OBC and PwD categories are allowed nine attempts till 35 and 42 years of age, respectively. Only SC and ST candidates are allowed unlimited attempts till the age of 37.
Additionally, while stationed in Pune, she was accused of misusing her office by occupying Additional Collector Ajay More’s ante-chamber without authorisation, removing office furniture, and requesting unauthorised facilities. WhatsApp messages between her and the collector’s office also show that she demanded a cabin and staff before officially starting, to “plan things accordingly.”
The UPSC has taken stringent action against the 2023-batch probationer, but it must address how such irregularities occurred and work with the DoPT to prevent a recurrence of the Khedkar controversy.
(Edited by Theres Sudeep)