Land Dispute Case: IAS Officer Puja Khedkar's Mother Arrested

The mother of trainee IAS Officer Puja Khedkar, Manorama Khedkar was arrested by Pune Police for allegedly threatening people over a land dispute by waving a gun at them, an act which was captured in a viral video.

Mahad/Pune (Maharashtra): Manorama Khedkar, mother of controversial IAS probationer Puja Khedkar was arrested on Thursday morning for allegedly threatening a few farmers by brandishing a gun over a land dispute, officials said.

"Manorama Khedkar was arrested from Mahad in Raigad district and is being brought to Pune where," Superintendent of Police, Pune Rural, Pankaj Deshmukh, said.

Manorama and some of her associates were apprehended from Parvati Niwas, a homestay from Hirakni Wadi in Pachad of Mahad in Maharashtra's Raigad district, a Pune Police official said. It has been reported that Manorama came here at around 10 pm last night. Her details had been entered in the register of the homestay.

At around 2 am, a team of Pune Rural Police arrived at Pachad, a sub-divisional police officer of Mahad, Shankar Kale told ETV Bharat. Kale said that the Pune Rural Police team informed the Mahad Taluka Police Station about Manorama's arrest at around 9 am today.

A search for her and her husband Dilip Khedkar was launched after a video showing her allegedly brandishing a gun at some persons in Dhadwali village in Pune's Mulshi tehsil, surfaced on social media. A case was registered by Paud police in Pune rural against Manorama and Dilip Khedkar and five others under the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita (BNS) sections, including 323 (dishonest or fraudulent removal or concealment of property), and relevant provisions of the Arms Act. Multiple teams had been searching for Manorama, her husband and five others accused in the case.

Manorama was later produced in a Pune court, which remanded her to three-day police custody.

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