Father of controversial ex-IAS trainee Puja Khedkar files nomination for Maharashtra polls

While responding to a question about her family’s ‘zero income’ during a mock interview conducted by a coaching institute—a video of which is available on the internet, Puja Khedkar had claimed she and her mother had separated from her father Dilip.

In his affidavit for the Lok Sabha election submitted on April 24 this year, Dilip had mentioned Manorama Khedkar as his wife and had also provided details about her income, movable and immovable assets. As per this affidavit, the couple owned assets over Rs 40 crores.

Now, in the affidavit submitted recently for contesting the state assembly elections, Khedkar has skipped the name, income and property details of his wife. In the column where he had earlier mentioned his wife’s name as Manorama Khedkar, he has now stated “Lagu Nahi (Not Applicable)”.

As stated in this affidavit, Dilip’s movable assets, including cash in hand, money in bank accounts, cost of jewellery is about Rs 8.9 lakhs. His immovable assets include self purchased property worth Rs 1.25 crore, along with ancestral property of about Rs 10.73 lakhs.

In the affidavit for the Lok Sabha elections, he had provided details of a molestation case registered against him at the Pathardi police station in Ahmednagar in 2022, as per section 354 of the IPC.

In the latest affidavit, along with the molestation offence, he has also provided details of an FIR lodged against him at the Paud police station in Pune rural, in connection with the incident of allegedly threatening farmers at gun point in Mulshi following a land dispute.

The affidavit, however, makes no mention of the case that was registered against Khedkar in which he was booked for allegedly obstructing functions of a public servant. Based on a complaint application filed by tehsildar Deepak Akade, this case was lodged against Dilip Khedkar at the Bundgarden police station in August this year.

Despite repeated attempts, Dilip Khedkar was not available for comment.

A former government officer, Dilip retired from the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB) about four years ago. As per his affidavit, he did a diploma in Mechanical Engineering from Government Polytechnic, Jalgaon, in 1984, BA from Fergusson College, Pune, in 1990 and B.E. (Mechanical) from Kohinoor Engineering College in 2005.

On August 1, a Delhi court had dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of his daughter Puja Khedkar, who is accused of fraudulently clearing the Civil Services Examination (CSE) held by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC). The court had later extended her protection from arrest.

Meanwhile, the UPSC has cancelled her candidature in CSE 2022 and also barred her from appearing for any future exams. Puja Khedkar was also dismissed from service in September.
Puja had joined the Pune Collectorate as part of her probationary training in June 2024. She was transferred from Pune to Washim as ‘Supernumerary Assistant Collector’ after Pune Collector Suhas Diwase sent a report to the state government about alleged objectionable behaviour of Puja and her father Dilip Khedkar. The report said Dilip accompanied his daughter to Pune district collectorate and allegedly pressurised government officials to provide a specific cabin and other facilities to her.

Meanwhile, Dilip was also named as an accused, along with Puja’s mother Manorama Khedkar, in the FIR lodged at the Paud police station for allegedly threatening farmers at the Dhadawali village in Mulshi tehsil on June 5, 2023.

The FIR was lodged after a video showing Manorama Khedkar brandishing a gun at a farmer following a land dispute surfaced on social media and television channels. Manorama was arrested in this case and later granted bail. The court had also granted anticipatory bail to Dilip Khedkar in this case.