Maharashtra land dispute case: IAS officer Puja Khedkar's mother remanded in police custody till July 20

IAS officer Puja Khedkar`s mother Manorama Khedkar. Pic/Screengrab

Manorama Khedkar, mother of IAS probationer Puja Khedkar, was remanded in police custody by a Pune court on Thursday for allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute.

Manorama was arrested today morning from a lodge in Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad district where she was hiding, reported PTI.

Following the arrest, she was brought to the Paud police station in Pune district and was produced in court which remanded her in police custody till July 20.

The Paud police in Pune rural have booked the Manorama, her husband and five others under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections, including 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property), and the Arms Act.

After a video surfaced showing her her allegedly threatening some persons with a gun over a land dispute at Dhadwali village in Pune's Mulshi tehsil, the police had launched a search operation for Manorama and her husband Dilip Khedkar

"Manorama Khedkar was apprehended from Mahad in Raigad district and she was brought to Paud where, after the completion of formalities, she was placed under arrest," Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Pankaj Deshmukh, had said earlier.

This comes against the backdrop of Puja Khedkar being under scrutiny for her claims regarding disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates in her Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature, as well as her conduct during her tenure at the Pune collector's office.

Puja Khedkar's district training program was put on hold on Tuesday and she was summoned back to the Mussoorie-based Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration for "necessary action". She was earlier transferred to Washim as a supernumerary assistant collector from Pune.

As per the PTI report, a complain was filed with the Pune Anti-Corruption Bureau unit seeking an open inquiry against Puja Khedkar's father Dilip Khedkar, a retired government official, in connection with alleged disproportionate assets, a senior official said on Wednesday.

There is already an inquiry underway by the ACB's Nashik division against him into the alleged disproportionate assets.

Hence, the Pune unit of the anti-graft agency has sought directions from the ACB headquarters to either incorporate the fresh complaint into the ongoing probe or whether to conduct a separate open inquiry, the official said.