Dacoity at sacked IAS trainee Puja Khedkar’s house: Cops search for seven from Nepal

Based on information shared orally by sacked IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar, the Pune city police have booked a domestic help and six of his accomplices for allegedly committing dacoity at her residence after they restrained her with a string and drugged her parents and house staff with sedatives.

Assistant police inspector Umesh Koli lodged the first information report (FIR) at Chaturshringi police station on Sunday night, at around 11.26 pm.

As per the FIR, one of the accused was identified as Hikmat, who had been hired by the Khedkar family as a domestic help while details of his six accomplices are not known yet. Police said Hikmat had been hired by the Khedkar family over a week before the incident. An FIR has been launched for him and six others, all suspected to be natives of Nepal, police said.

According to police, Puja Khedkar informed them around 1.30 am on Sunday about a theft at her residence, a bungalow in National Housing Society in Aundh area of Pune city. When the cops reached the spot, Puja Khedkar and her brothers, Vinay Budhwant and Harshad Budhwant, were at the bungalow.

Puja told the police team that a domestic help at their house and other accused allegedly tied her hands and legs with a string, and confined her to a room by threatening to kill her around 12.30 am on Sunday.

The accused then allegedly gave sedatives to her parents Dilip and Manorama Khedka, the watchman Jitendra Singh, car driver Dadasaheb Dhakne and cook Sujit Roy. Their cell phones and some valuables were robbed from cupboards in the bungalow by the accused persons, Puja told the cops.

Police said Puja’s parents were found unconscious in their room, Singh was seen lying unconscious in the car parking lot and Dhakane in a room on the ground-floor room in the bungalow, while Roy was found in a room outside the bungalow, the police said.

Puja reportedly told the cops that she managed to untie herself and call the police and her brothers and give them information about the alleged crime.

The police called an ambulance to the scene and the unconscious persons were taken to a hospital for treatment. The police asked Puja Khedkar to file a complaint about the incident. But she did not file the FIR saying she was worried about her parents’ health.

Police then themselves lodged the FIR against seven suspects under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 310 (2) (dacoity), 310(5), 316(4) (criminal breach of trust by servant), 306 (theft by servant), 127 (7) (wrongful confinement), 123 (causing hurt by means of poison, etc) and 351(2) (criminal intimidation).

Chilumula Rajnikant, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Zone 4), said, “We have not yet recorded the statement of Puja Khedkar. She said she would give her statements later as her parents are unwell now. But it was essential for us to lodge an FIR based on the information that she (Puja) had shared with us orally. We had launched a search for a group of persons who are suspected to be from Nepal.”

Rajnikant said Puja Khedkar did not receive any injuries during the alleged crime. “Those who were found unconscious and admitted to the hospital are now stable and recovering. But they are not yet in a position to record their statements. Further investigation is on,” he said.

The police said that CCTV cameras at the bungalow were not functional. The police are gathering information about the accused persons by checking videos captured by CCTV cameras at other points. Police said Puja Khedkar has not shared the information yet about the nature and amount of valuables stolen from the cupboards in the bungalow. Police teams were dispatched in search of the accused persons. When contacted, assistant police inspector Narendra Patil, the investigation officer, said he was busy in the probe.

Puja Khedkar, who had been selected in the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 2022, was allegedly found guilty of cheating and wrongly availing benefits of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and disability quota. She was also accused of appearing for the exam though the permitted nine attempts were over. She was allegedly able to do so as she changed her and her parents’ names to appear as a different candidate.

In September 2024, the Centre dismissed Puja Khedkar from the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) after the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) cancelled her selection and barred her from taking the entrance exam for life. Puja has denied the allegations and is contesting the decision in court.

Meanwhile, her parents also face criminal cases. They were named as accused in an FIR lodged at Paud police station for allegedly threatening farmers at Dhadawali village in Mulshi tehsil on June 5, 2023. The FIR was lodged after a video showing Puja’s mother Manorama Khedkar brandishing a gun at a farmer following a land dispute surfaced on social media and television channels.