IAS Pooja Khedkar Row: In the latest development in IAS probationer Pooja Khedkar’s case, her mother Manorama Khedkar, who was seen threatening farmers with a licensed gun, was arrested from Mahad in Maharashtra’s Raigad on Thursday (July 18). She has been charged with attempt to murder in connection with a video in which she was seen brandishing a firearm and sent to two days’ police custody till July 20. She has been charged under the Arms Act for brandishing her licenced gun and relevant sections of the new criminal code, Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS). The police have now added an attempt of murder charge.

“Manorama Khedkar was apprehended from Mahad in Raigad district and she was brought to Pune where, after the completion of formalities, she was placed under arrest," Pune Rural SP Pankaj Deshmukh said.

The police officials were unable to trace Manorama after an old video of her allegedly threatening farmers with a pistol went viral last week. Amid an ongoing row over allegations of misuse of power and violation of rules of appointment by trainee IAS officer Pooja Khedkar, her father Dilip Khedkar, will also be probed for his alleged disproportionate assets and income.

After the video of Manorama Khedkar, allegedly threatening farmers with a licensed pistol went viral last week, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against Manorama and her husband Dilip Khedkar based on a complaint by a farmer. 

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The two-minute video that went viral showed Puja Khedkar's mother allegedly threatening farmers over a land dispute in Pune's Mulshi tehsil. Pooja’s father Dilip reportedly purchased 25 acres of land in Mulshi tehsil. In the video, Manorama Khedkar, accompanied by bouncers, was seen disputing with a person about ownership of a plot of land while brandishing a pistol.

34-year-old Pooja Khedkar, an IAS officer of the Maharashtra cadre batch of 2023 who obtained an All India Rank (AIR) of 841 in the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exam, stirred a controversy after using her private Audi car with a red-blue beacon light and VIP number plate. She is also under the scanner for allegedly misusing the disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) quota to secure a position in the IAS.

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Following the reports alleging misuse of power by Khedkar, she was transferred from Pune to Washim to complete her training after complaints about her conduct and demands for an in-depth probe into the circumstances of her recruitment.

Pooja Khedkar reportedly submitted a mental illness certificate. Earlier in April 2022, the IAS probationer was also asked to report to the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, for verification of her disability certificate. Still, she did not do so, citing a COVID-19 infection.