Pune: The Bund Garden police have registered a case of obstructing public servants, intentional insult and criminal intimidation against probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar ’s father, Dilip Khedkar , based on a complaint lodged by a tehsildar (general administration) at the Pune district collector’s office. Dilip Khedkar retired in 2023 as a regional officer with the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board. On June 12 and 13, he accompanied his daughter to the Pune collector’s office and resorted to ‘objectionable conduct’ with staffers there for not arranging her a cabin after she was appointed an assistant collector on June 3.
“A case of non-cognisable offences has been registered against him. We will secure the court’s permission to investigate it further and take legal action,” Pune police commissioner Amitesh Kumar said on Friday. TOI on Friday called Dilip Khedkar on his cell phone to seek his comment on the matter but his phone was ‘not reachable’.
TOI also called him on his WhatsApp number but there was no response. A text message was sent to him but there was no reply till the time of going to press. On July 8, the state general administration department (GAD) had written to collector Suhas Diwase, asking him to initiate an ‘appropriate legal action’ against Dilip Khedkar over ‘objectionable conduct’ at his daughter’s workplace.
“We have attached this letter as part of our complaint lodged with the police,” a senior official at the collectorate said. The letter, signed by GAD joint secretary S M Mahadik, referred to Diwase’s report of June 24 to the additional chief secretary (services) that mentioned Puja Khedkar’s conduct of seeking special privileges, which were not allowed to a probationary IAS officer, and her use of an amber light with ‘Maharashtra govt’ plate on a private car. Diwase’s report also mentioned that Dilip Khedkar asked officials at the collectorate that his daughter be provided with an office equipped with an attached restroom.
He had gone so far as to reprimand the officials for not having his daughter’s office adequately prepared prior to her arrival. The father insisted on installation of superior electrical fittings and instructed some officials to “not go home” until the work was completed. He even alleged that the officials had unnecessarily troubled his daughter at the workplace by not acceding to her demands, the report stated.
The GAD letter said the collector’s June 24 report described all this conduct by Khedkar’s father as ‘objectionable’ and ‘liable for action’. A Bund Garden police officer said, “An FIR has been registered under section 186 (voluntarily obstructing any public servant in the discharge of his public functions), 504 (intentional insult), and 506 (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, based on tehsildar Deepak Akhade’s complaint.”.
