Puja Khedkar’s story is one that captivated headlines and sparked debates across India—a tale of ambition, privilege, and a dramatic fall from grace. A 2023-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Maharashtra cadre, Khedkar was discharged from service on September 7, 2024, following a whirlwind of controversy surrounding her alleged misuse of reservation benefits. Her provisional candidature was canceled by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) on July 31, 2024, after an investigation revealed suppression of critical information. What began as a promising career in one of India’s most prestigious services unraveled into a cautionary saga of ethics, accountability, and systemic scrutiny.
Roots of Ambition: Early Life and Background
Puja Khedkar hails from Pune, Maharashtra, born into a family steeped in bureaucratic influence. Her father, Dilip Khedkar, is a retired IAS officer who later ventured into politics, contesting the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unsuccessfully under the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi banner. Her mother, Manorama Khedkar, a former sarpanch, also found herself entangled in legal troubles during Puja’s rise and fall. With a lineage tied to power and privilege, Puja grew up in an environment where public service was not just a career but a legacy.
Educated as a doctor, Puja completed her MBBS from Kashibai Navale Medical College in Pune in 2007, securing admission under the OBC Nomadic Tribe-3 category reserved for the Vanjari community, to which she belongs. Scoring 146 out of 200 in the entrance exam, her academic journey hinted at determination, but it was her pivot to the civil services that would define—and ultimately derail—her trajectory.
The Path to IAS: A Questionable Climb
Puja Khedkar’s entry into the IAS was marked by persistence and controversy. Between 2012 and 2023, she reportedly attempted the Civil Services Examination (CSE) multiple times, leveraging the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and Persons with Benchmark Disabilities (PwBD) quotas. Under the CSE rules, candidates in the OBC-PwBD category are allowed a maximum of nine attempts. However, investigations later revealed that Puja had exceeded this limit, exhausting her permissible attempts by 2020—well before her successful 2022 attempt, which earned her an All India Rank (AIR) of 821.
To circumvent the attempt cap, Puja allegedly manipulated her identity. Until 2020-21, she appeared for the exam as “Puja Diliprao Khedkar” under the OBC quota. After exhausting her attempts, she re-entered the fray in 2021-22 as “Puja Manorama Dilip Khedkar,” this time claiming both OBC and PwBD benefits. She submitted medical certificates—one from 2018 citing visual impairment and another from 2021 alleging mental illness—issued by Ahmednagar District Civil Hospital. These documents, later deemed questionable, allowed her to secure a lower qualifying threshold and clinch her IAS spot in 2023.
Her selection raised eyebrows not just for the quota claims but also for her family’s wealth. The OBC non-creamy layer category, which she invoked, caps annual family income at ₹8 lakh. Yet, her father declared assets worth ₹40 crore during his election campaign, and Puja herself owned significant personal holdings, including properties and vehicles. This glaring disparity fueled allegations of misrepresentation from the outset.
A Turbulent Tenure: Power and Privilege in Pune
Puja Khedkar joined the Maharashtra cadre as a probationary Assistant Collector in Pune in June 2024, stepping into a role meant to hone her skills during a two-year training period. However, her stint quickly turned contentious. Within weeks, reports surfaced of her demanding privileges far beyond her entitlement—separate office space, an official residence, a car, and staff—requests typically reserved for senior officers. She allegedly used an Audi with red-blue beacon lights and a “Maharashtra Government” sticker, symbols of authority not accorded to trainees.
Her actions didn’t stop at ostentation. Puja reportedly occupied the office of Additional Collector Ajay More in his absence, removed furniture, and demanded letterheads and a VIP number plate. She even intervened in a police matter, pressuring a Deputy Commissioner of Police to release a suspect in a theft case—an overreach that stunned officials. These incidents painted a picture of entitlement, drawing sharp criticism from colleagues and the public alike.
The Pune District Collector, Suhas Diwase, flagged her behavior to the Maharashtra government, prompting her transfer to Washim in July 2024. But the move only amplified the scrutiny, as deeper questions about her eligibility began to emerge.
The Unraveling: Investigations and Revelations
The storm around Puja Khedkar intensified when activist Vijay Kumbhar alleged she had falsified her OBC and disability credentials. The Central government responded by forming a single-member committee in July 2024, headed by an Additional Secretary, to probe her candidature. Simultaneously, the UPSC launched its own investigation, uncovering a pattern of deceit.
The commission found that Puja had violated CSE-2022 rules by faking her identity to secure extra attempts. A show-cause notice issued on July 18 demanded an explanation by July 25, but Puja sought an extension to August 4, citing the need to gather documents. The UPSC granted her until July 30, making it clear no further delays would be tolerated. Her failure to adequately justify her actions sealed her fate.
On July 31, 2024, the UPSC canceled her provisional candidature, permanently barring her from future exams. The decision was grounded in Rule 12 of the IAS (Probation) Rules, 1954, which allows discharge if a probationer is found ineligible at recruitment. The Delhi Police Crime Branch also registered a case against her under charges of cheating, forgery, and violations of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, alleging she had submitted fabricated disability certificates.
The final blow came on September 7, 2024, when the Central government formally discharged her from the IAS with immediate effect. The move followed a summary enquiry that confirmed her ineligibility for the 2022 exam, cementing her exit from the service she had fought to join.
Fallout and Legal Battles
Puja Khedkar’s ouster didn’t mark the end of her story. She challenged the UPSC’s decision in the Delhi High Court, arguing that the commission lacked authority to disqualify her post-selection. She denied altering her name or forging documents and offered to undergo medical tests at AIIMS to validate her disability claims. However, the court dismissed her plea for pre-arrest bail in December 2024, with scathing remarks about a “larger conspiracy” to deceive the UPSC.
The Supreme Court stepped in on March 18, 2025, extending her interim protection from arrest until April 15, 2025, while directing her to respond to Delhi Police allegations of involvement in a broader racket. The police claimed her custodial interrogation was essential to unearth accomplices who aided her fraud, pointing to discrepancies in her medical certificates—two issued on the same day in 2021 with conflicting diagnoses.
Meanwhile, her family faced parallel scrutiny. Her mother, Manorama, was arrested in July 2024 for threatening farmers with a pistol over a land dispute, a case that added fuel to the public outrage. Her father’s political ambitions and the family’s amassed wealth—12 properties under her parents’ names—further deepened the narrative of privilege gone awry.
A Broader Impact: Lessons and Legacy
Puja Khedkar’s case reverberated beyond her personal downfall, igniting debates about reservation misuse, UPSC’s verification processes, and accountability in the civil services. The commission reviewed 15 years of data (2009-2023) and found hers to be a rare instance of exceeding attempt limits, attributing the oversight to her name changes. In response, it vowed to strengthen its Standard Operating Procedures to prevent future breaches.
For aspirants, her story became a stark warning—of ambition unchecked by integrity and the consequences of gaming a system designed to uplift the deserving. Critics argued it exposed loopholes in quota implementation, while supporters of reservations feared it might unfairly taint the policy’s intent.
Conclusion: A Career Cut Short
Puja Khedkar’s journey from a doctor with IAS dreams to a discharged officer is a saga of contrasts—talent overshadowed by controversy, opportunity squandered by overreach. Her discharge on September 7, 2024, closed a chapter that began with promise but ended in disgrace. As legal proceedings unfold and investigations probe deeper, her name remains etched in public memory—not as a symbol of service, but as a reminder of the fine line between ambition and ethics in India’s administrative landscape.