'Media Trial Is Wrong': IAS Trainee Puja Khedkar Reacts To Fake Certificate Row

Trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar addressed the controversy regarding allegations of “misuse of power” against her, stating that a media trial declaring her guilty is wrong.

“I will testify before the expert committee, and we will respect its decision. I am not at liberty to disclose details of the ongoing investigation. Whatever submission I have, will become public later. Our Indian Constitution upholds the principle ‘Innocent until proven guilty,’ so it is wrong to convict me through a media trial,” she added.

“The experts of the government (committee) will decide. Neither I nor you (media) or the public can decide. Whenever the decision of the committee comes, it will be public and open to scrutiny. But right now I don’t have any right to tell you about the investigation going on,” she added.

Puja Khedkar, a 2022-batch probationary IAS officer, has been in the news for accusations of “misuse of power” and submitting fake medical certificates. The controversy concerns accusations that she improperly utilised a personal Audi car equipped with VIP registration and emergency lights — a vehicle marked ‘Maharashtra Government’.

Puja also allegedly submitted fake disability and Other Backward Class (OBC) certificates to clear the civil services exam. She was recently transferred from Pune to Washim following complaints of misuse of power.

Puja Khedkar Submitted Fake non-creamy layer OBC Certificate To Secure Admission to MBBS In 2007

Amid the ongoing controversy, it was revealed on Monday that Puja had submitted a non-creamy layer OBC Certificate to secure admission to MBBS in 2007.

According to Arvind Bhore, Director of Shrimati Kashibai Navale Medical College and General Hospital, Puja had secured a seat for the MBBS course in the college through the Association of Management of Unaided Private Medical and Dental Colleges of Maharashtra (AMUPDMC) entrance test and had scored 146 marks out of 200.

Khedkar had secured a seat in the college under the reserved Nomadic tribe-3 category, submitting a non-creamy layer OBC certificate, an ANI report said.

“As per the rules, only those come under the OBC non-creme layer category whose parents are under 8 lac per annum of income, but their income shows that it is 40 crore. Her parents contested the recent Lok Sabha polls and all the property details are there in the affidavit,” Bhore was quoted by ANI as saying.

Last week, the central government formed a one-member committee to probe allegations related to fake certificates and scrutiny at the time of her interview, while the IAS Academy will additionally look into her conduct during probation.