Dilip Khedkar is in Maharashtra, trying to file for bail in truck cleaner’s ‘abduction’ case: Navi Mumbai police

“We have some leads that indicate Dilip Khedkar is in the state, and our teams are trying to track him and his driver-bodyguard,” a Navi Mumbai police officer said.

The officer said they are also looking for Manorama Khedkar, Puja’s mother, who did not allow police teams into the house where they had confined the driver in a room, but their focus remains on tracking Dilip and his security guard, Salunkhe.

On Wednesday, the Navi Mumbai police said the Khedkar family had switched off their mobile phones, and had not made any online transactions since Sunday. They said they are looking at CCTV cameras around the bungalow to trace the vehicle used to escape.

The police have booked Puja’s parents and their bodyguard for allegedly abducting the truck cleaner after his vehicle brushed the SUV they were driving, and the Pune police have lodged a separate FIR for allegedly obstructing the police team from entering their residence.

The police action came after Puja’s father, Dilip, a retired Maharashtra government official, and his bodyguard allegedly had an altercation with truck driver Chandrakumar Chavan and the cleaner, Prahlad Kumar, 22, on September 13. The concrete mixer truck allegedly brushed past the Khedkars’ car at a traffic junction on the Mulund-Airoli Road.

The two men then allegedly forced Kumar into their vehicle, saying they were taking him to the police station. Vilas Dherange, the truck owner, lodged a complaint after Kumar did not respond to the repeated calls made by Chavan.

The SUV was registered in the name of Puja’s mother, Manorama, who initially tried to prevent the Navi Mumbai police team from entering their house.

Last year, the Centre dismissed Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) cancelled her selection as she was found guilty of cheating and wrongly availing of Other Backward Classes and disability quota benefits.