Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar used fake ration card, address for disability certificate: Report

Puja Khedkar, the trainee IAS officer accused of misusing the UPSC reservation quota, used a false address and a fake ration card to obtain a disability certificate, reported India Today.

Also Read: IAS probationer Puja Khedkar files harassment complaint against Pune collector

Puja Khedkar came under fire after she was transferred from Pune to Washim following suspicions of forgery and misuse of the reservation policy for people who are disabled people and from OBC non-creamy layer status.

Also Read: Amid Puja Khedkar controversy, a look at rules governing IAS officers, trainees

Puja Khedkar submitted the address - plot number 53, Dehu-Alandi, Talwade - to the Yashwantrao Chavan Memorial Hospital (YCM), claiming it as her residence in the Pimpri Chinchwad region. However, the area she claimed as her home was the site of a defunct company, Thermoverita Engineering Private Ltd.

Also Read: Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar breaks silence on fake certificate row: ‘Proving guilty by…’

India Today claimed it accessed the documents that show that the false address was then used to make a fake ration card. Puja Khedkar then used the doctored documents to get a disability certificate from the YCM hospital in Pune, stating that she had a locomotor disability.

The certificate which was issued on August 24, 2022, stated that Puja Khedkar had a seven per cent disability in the knee.

An Audi car was also registered under Thermoverita Engineering, the company occupying Khedkar's fake address. According to the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipality's tax department, there are ₹2.7 lakh dues pending from the company for the last three years.

Apart from these charges, Puja Khedkar also faces charges on the grounds of misuse of power and threatening police officials.

On Tuesday evening, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Pune, submitted a detailed report to the state that implicated Dilip Khedkar, Puja's father of amassing disproportionate assets during his tenure as director of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) till 2020.

Puja Khedkar's training has been put on hold and she has been called to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for appropriate action against her.

Khedkar has maintained that she is innocent and that the claims against her are ‘fake news’. The trainee IAS officer has also filed a case for harassment against the Pune district collector, who ordered her transfer to Washim.