Pooja Khedkar Disqualification: Pooja Khedkar, accused of changing her identity and tampering with her disability certificate for selection in civil services, is no longer a trainee IAS. UPSC has cancelled Pooja’s selection. UPSC had filed an FIR against 2023 batch trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar for appearing in the civil services exam more than the prescribed limit by changing her identity.
UPSC had issued a notice to Pooja and sought a reply regarding the cancellation of selection. UPSC had said that during investigation against Pooja, it was found that she had changed her name, parents’ name, signature, photo, email ID, mobile number and address while appearing for UPSC exam. Delhi Police Crime Branch had registered a case against Pooja under forgery, fraud, IT Act and Disability Act.
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Pooja did not respond to UPSC’s notice
Pooja did not respond to UPSC’s notice, after which action was taken On July 18, 2024, UPSC issued a show cause notice to Pooja Khedkar. She was accused of trying to sit for the exam more times than the limit prescribed in the exam rules by using fake identity. Pooja had to respond to this notice by July 25, but Pooja asked for time till August 4, but UPSC gave her time only till July 30. However, she could not respond by this date. After this UPSC took action.
After the controversy, Pooja was transferred from Pune to Washim
Pooja was accused of misusing her position and misbehaving during the training. Pune District Collector Suhas Divase was the first to complain against Pooja, after which she was transferred to Washim.
After this, Pooja was accused of hiding her identity and misusing the OBC and disability quota. On July 16, Pooja’s training was stopped and she was called back to the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration (LBSNAA) in Mussoorie. However, she did not reach LBSNAA by the deadline of July 23.
Pooja also accused of tampering with name and age for selection
More revelations have been made in the case of Pooja’s UPSC fraud. It has come to light that Pooja had changed her name and age to increase her UPSC attempts. Pooja has different names in the two applications of 2020 and 2023 filed by Pooja in the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT).
In her 2020 application, Pooja had given her name as ‘Khedkar Pooja Diliprao’ and her age as 30 years. In her 2023 CAT application, she gave her name as ‘Pooja Manorama Dilip Khedkar’ and her age as 31 years. The question is being raised as to how her age can increase by just one year in a gap of three years.
Actually, in UPSC, general category candidates are allowed to appear for the exam 6 times till the age of 32. Whereas OBC category candidates can appear for the exam 9 times till the age of 35. According to sources, Pooja has appeared for the civil services exam a total of 11 times.
4 disputes related to disability certificate
– In the disability certificate, Pooja Khedkar’s address was written as ‘Plot No. 53, Dehu Alandi Road, Talawade, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune’. However, there is no house at this address, but a factory named Thermoverta Engineering Company. Pooja’s Audi which was seized was registered in the name of this company.
– As per government norms, Aadhaar card is mandatory for making a disability certificate, but ration card was used in Pooja’s certificate.
– After getting selected in UPSC through disabled quota, many disability certificates of Pooja have come to light. Pooja Khedkar had submitted two disability certificates issued by Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital to UPSC in 2018 and 2021.
– Pooja had taken several appointments for medical examination in Delhi to confirm her disability certificate, but later she submitted the report prepared in a private hospital to UPSC.
– Yashwant Rao Chavan Memorial (YCM) Hospital has clarified that there was no mistake in making Pooja Khedkar’s locomotor certificate. Pooja was shown to have 7% locomotor disability in the certificate. The hospital is run by Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.
– In an affidavit given to UPSC, Pooja had claimed that she is mentally challenged and also has problems in seeing. Pooja had refused to take the medical test 6 times, whereas it is mandatory to take the medical test.
– According to several media reports, Pooja’s first medical test was scheduled at Delhi AIIMS in April 2022. She refused to attend it citing being Covid positive.
Pooja is also accused of taking advantage of OBC non-creamy layer quota
Pooja is also accused of taking advantage of OBC non-creamy layer quota by hiding information about her parents’ marital status. Pooja’s father Dilip Khedkar is a retired IAS officer. He also contested elections. In the affidavit, he had declared his assets to be Rs 40 crore. Pooja had declared the family’s assets to be less than 8 lakhs.
A video of Pooja is going viral in which she has claimed that her parents are divorced. Her father no longer lives with her, so she now falls under the OBC non-creamy layer category. According to Pune Police, UPSC has sought the marital status report of Pooja’s parents.
Pooja fears arrest, decision on anticipatory bail tomorrow
Meanwhile, a Delhi court may pronounce its verdict on Pooja’s anticipatory bail plea in a case of cheating and forgery on August 1. Additional Sessions Judge Devendra Kumar Jangla reserved the order on Wednesday after hearing arguments on the application filed by Khedkar.
Pooja had claimed through her lawyer that she was in danger of being arrested. The lawyer appearing for UPSC opposed the application and claimed that she had cheated the system. Pooja has misused the law and the legal process. The possibility of her misusing the law still remains. She is a resourceful person.
Pooja Khedkar’s mother accused of threatening farmers, sent to 14-day custody
Pooja Khedkar’s mother Manorama Khedkar has been arrested on charges of threatening farmers with a pistol and grabbing land. Pune Police produced her in the Magistrate Court on Monday, from where she has been sent to 14 days judicial custody.
A video of Manorama from 2023 went viral on social media. In the video, Manorama was seen threatening a farmer with a pistol over land. After the video surfaced, when there was a demand for action against her, she absconded.
She hid in a lodge in Mahad, Raigad with her driver. She told the driver that he was her son. Manorama used a fake Aadhar card to book a room in the lodge. The police arrested her from this lodge on 18 July.
Earlier on July 19, in the same case, the Sessions Court had granted interim bail to Pooja Khedkar’s father Dilip Kondiba Khedkar till July 25.
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