Truck driver vanishes after crash, found locked inside sacked IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s Pune home

A missing truck driver was rescued from the Pune home of sacked IAS officer Puja Khedkar, triggering a fresh controversy around the former bureaucrat already banned for life from civil services.

Driver Prahlad Kumar had gone missing after his mixer truck collided with a car near the Airoli signal in Navi Mumbai. According to police, two individuals from the car—bearing the number plate MH 12 RT 5000—forced him into their vehicle and drove off.

Investigators tracked the car to Chatushringi in Pune, where it was found parked at the residence of Puja Khedkar. Police rescued the driver from inside the home.

Khedkar’s mother, Manorama Khedkar, reportedly obstructed the rescue operation. Officers said she misbehaved with them, refused to open the door, and attempted to block their entry. She has now been summoned for questioning.

Khedkar, a former IAS officer, was dismissed from service in 2024 after the UPSC found she had used forged documents to claim OBC and disability quotas. The Commission also barred her for life from appearing in civil service exams, citing multiple counts of impersonation and identity fraud.

This is not the first time the Khedkar family has been in the news. In 2024, a video of Manorama Khedkar brandishing a firearm during a land dispute in Raigad went viral, resulting in her arrest.

As the investigation continues, officials have not yet confirmed whether Puja Khedkar will also be summoned in connection with the alleged abduction.