• Source:JND
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Pooja Khedkar Case: Former IAS trainee officer Pooja Khedkar, whose Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) candidature was recently cancelled amid a raging controversy over her alleged misuse of disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) quota to secure a position in the IAS, had reportedly written a letter to Additional Chief Secretary, Maharashtra last month and alleged that Pune collector Suhas Diwase had ‘subjected her to insults’ since the first day of training at the Pune District Collectorate.

According to the Indian Express, the letter, dated back to July 11, was written three days after Khedkar was transferred to Washim from Pune. She was transferred to Washim to complete her training after complaints about her conduct and demands for an in-depth probe into the circumstances of her recruitment.

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In her letter, Khedkar reportedly mentioned that she was extremely disturbed after Diwase complained to the higher authorities about the former IAS trainee's ‘entitled behaviour’ and the subsequent media coverage regarding it.

In a three-page letter, Khedkar expressed that her portrayal as an "arrogant officer" has caused her severe mental distress. "Since the day I joined as a probationary officer, the Pune Collector has been subjecting me to insults," she wrote in the letter, originally penned in Marathi. 

She was also accused of removing the nameplate of a senior official at the Pune collector's office when he allowed her to use his ante-chamber as his office. However, Khedkar, in response, clarified that Additional Collector Ajay More had instructed his staff to prepare the ante-chamber for her as well as offered it to her voluntarily.

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, was found herself at the centre of 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.

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.