Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar aged only one year between 2020 and 2023, used different names on applications

The controversy around Puja Khedkar, the 34-year-old trainee IAS officer who is under immense media scrutiny due to alleged use of power, is simply refusing to die down. The 2023 batch Maharashtra-cadre officer is under the radar due to a discrepancy in her age on official documents. 

Details provided by Khedkar for the Common Admission Test (CAT) in 2020 and the UPSC civil service exam in 2023 show an age difference of only one year despite a 3-year-long gap in filing both the applications. She also used slightly different names on both the applications-- Khedkar Puja Deeliprao in 2020 and Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar in 2023, India Today TV reported. 

Earlier in the day, a doctor's certificate submitted by Khedkar in 2007 for admission to the Kashibai Navle Medical College in Pune surfaced. This certificate declared her "medically fit" with no apparent disability.

"There was no mention of any disability, whether physical or mental, in the medical fitness certificate submitted by Puja Khedkar," the medical college's director told newswire PTI. The 34-year-old is currently under investigation for allegations of misrepresenting herself under the Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) and Other Backward Class (OBC) quotas to become an IAS officer.

She is also accused of misusing her position and demanding special privileges, which are not usually given to a probationary officer, when she was posted in Pune. Puja Khedkar grabbed national headlines when she put up a red and blue beacon on her private Audi car. She also put a 'Maharashtra government' signage and a VIP number plate on her privately-owned luxury vehicle. 

Khedkar, however, has maintained that the truth will come out and that a government committee will make the final decision. She said that she will put her side of the story in front of the committee. The Centre has appointed a single-member panel to probe Khedkar's candidacy. The Committee has been tasked to submit its report within a period of 2 weeks.