IAS Puja Khedkar and family
Dismissed IAS officer Pooja Khedkar’s father Dilip Khedkar is in the news again. After losing the Lok Sabha elections, Khedkar is now trying his luck in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Dilip Khedkar will contest as an independent candidate from Shevgaon Assembly. He filed his nomination papers on Tuesday.
Dilip Khedkar had earlier contested the Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar seat as a Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate, but lost the election. Not only this, Dilip and his wife Manorama Khedkar are also accused in a criminal intimidation case. But this time he did not mention any information related to his wife in the election affidavit. However, in the Lok Sabha elections, he had given details of his wife Manorama Khedkar.
This case is registered against his wife Manorama Khedkar.
His wife Manorama Khedkar is accused of allegedly showing a gun to a farmer in Pune district in June 2023 over a land dispute. However, after this, in July, a Pune court granted anticipatory bail to Dilip Khedkar in this case. Not only this, there are also serious allegations against his daughter Pooja Khedkar.
Pooja Khedkar is accused of misusing the OBC (Other Backward Class) ‘non-creamy layer’ reservation in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) by claiming that her parents were separated. On the basis of this claim, he secured his place in IAS by availing OBC and disabled quota.
The central government had dismissed
However, by order dated September 6, 2024, the Central Government removed him under the IAS Rules, 1954. Furthermore, the UPSC canceled his candidature and barred him from appearing for future exams. The issue gained momentum when RTI activist Vijay Kumbhar took to social media and questioned the family’s marital status. He said that during the Lok Sabha elections, Dilip and Manorama Khedkar had given information as a married couple, but when the issue of caste certificate arose, they came forward separately. At the moment, this time, even in the affidavit for the assembly elections, Dilip Khedkar has not mentioned his wife.
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