- By Aashish Vashistha
- Sun, 14 Jul 2024 11:00 AM (IST)
- Source:JND
As his trainee IAS officer daughter Pooja Khedkar is facing an investigation for misuse of power and violation of rules of appointment, her father retired bureaucrat Dilip Khedkar came out in her defence. The controversial probationary IAS officer’s father alleged that his daughter is being harassed without any fault on her part.
"My daughter has not done anything wrong. Is a woman asking for a space to sit wrong," Dilip Khedkar said in an interview with India Today. "The matter is subjudice and a committee has been appointed to investigate it. Let us all wait for the final verdict. All I can say is that someone is deliberately trying to make it an issue," he further added.
However, Pooja Khedkar’s father did not name anyone when asked about who was orchestrating the controversy to defame her. Khedkar, who retired from Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB), in 2020, also claimed that his daughter has visual impairment.
“There are many kinds of disabilities. Pooja suffers from vision impairment, which is more than 40 per cent. Therefore she fulfils 40 per cent criteria of the disability,” Pooja’s father told Hindustan Times.
34-year-old Pooja Khedkar is under the scanner for allegedly misusing the disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) quota to secure a position in the IAS. Several reports also surfaced recently, claiming that Pooja demanded a separate office, an official car and unauthorised use of a red beacon light on a private Audi car.
Following the reports alleging misuse of power by Khedkar, she was transferred from Pune to Washim earlier this week to complete her training after complaints about her conduct and demands for an in-depth probe into the circumstances of her recruitment.
In her first interaction with the media since the allegations came out, Khedkar said she was "not authorised" to speak about the matter and that she is "happy" to begin her new role.
