‘Pune Collector subjected me to insults’: Puja Khedkar letter to govt emerges

On July 8, Puja had been transferred to Washim due to her “arrogant behaviour”. Diwase had written a letter to Additional Chief Secretary Nitin Gadre in which he had complained about Khedkar’s “entitled behaviour”.

In her letter, she referred to a complaint sent by Diwase to Gadre and said that his letter and subsequent media converage had caused her great agony.

“…Because of this (letter and media coverage) my image has became that of an arrogant officer in the public’s eye. This is causing me mental trauma and I am extremely disturbed,” she said in the three page letter written in Marathi.

“I don’t know the reason, but since the day I joined as probationary officer, the Pune Collector has been subjecting me to insults,” she said.

In the letter she also responded to allegations of her unauthorised possession of the additional collector’s ante-chamber. She said that her father – Dilip Khedkar – had visited her in the Collectorate to drop off her lunch box.
Pune Police recently booked Dilip Khedkar for putting undue pressure on a public servant based on a complaint filed by a tehsildar at Pune Collectorate.

“Additional Collector Ajay More had voluntarily offered me his ante-chamber and had directed his staff to set it up for me. The staff enquired about my needs and arranged the stationery, etc. After District Collector Diwase sir returned to office a day later, someone informed him about my sitting arrangement in the ante-chamber of the additional collector. Perhaps he was angered by this, he summoned the tehsildar concerned and ordered to remove my furniture from the ante-chamber. When I spoke to him, he alleged that I had encroached the ante-chamber and he wouldn’t listen to any of my explanations,” Khedkar said in the letter.

She said that the next day she tried to meet Diwase but since he was busy, she texted him. “I apologised to him and told him that I would accept whatever decision he takes about my seating arrangement. I thought that the issue was over,” she said in the letter.

Diwase has denied the allegations made by Khedkar. Speaking to The Indian Express last week, Diwase had said the allegations were “nonsensical and made as an afterthought”.