Stuck at the eye of the storm in Maharashtra, IAS probationer Puja Khedkar is getting into more trouble with every passing day. For the uninitiated, she was transferred from Pune to Washim district following a letter to the General Administration Department by Pune Collector Dr Suhas Diwase.
The letter highlighted that she made demands for a separate cabin and staff during her posting in Pune. She allegedly used a red beacon light on the Audi car and also got 'Maharashtra Government' written on it without permission.
After the transfer, her OBC and disability certificates came under scrutiny, and even the Central government constituted a single-member committee "to verify the candidature" of Khedkar.
Later, various issues arose, including an old video of her mother allegedly threatening farmers with a gun, which went viral. Additionally, the illegal construction on the footpath in front of her house in Pune came under fire, with the Pune civic body issuing notice to her parents for the same. Now, the parents of the officer have been booked for allegedly threatening farmers.
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WhatsApp message sent to Pune DC
With new details emerging every day, a message sent by Khedkar to district collector Dr Suhas Diwase has also come to light, along with WhatsApp chats of the officer.
The message was written by Khedkar after she was asked to vacate the antechamber of the additional collector at the office.
While she narrated the whole scenario which led her to taking up the space in the chamber, she also appealed to the collector, saying, "If you now ask me to vacate the chamber, I will be insulted and I will not be able to tolerate the insult. That is why I request you to let me continue sitting in the same chamber." She also noted that IAS probationers like her got their own offices at their respective places and vehicles, and thus she also feels like having the separate space to sit and vehicle. She also mentioned that the chambers of resident district collectors were vacated for probationary officers.
The message sent on WhatsApp has been attached in the letter written by Diwase to GAD.
Read the full message here:
Meanwhile, the probationary IAS officer in the eye of a storm for alleged misuse of power and manipulating disability and OBC quotas on Monday sidestepped questions related to the ongoing probe against her, saying the truth will eventually prevail, while the Pune police searched for her parents in a separate criminal case.
