Five of these companies are run from commercial addresses in Pune linked to Khedkar’s parents
PROBATIONARY IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who is facing a UPSC probe for allegedly “faking her identity” to flout appearance norms for the civil services exams amid allegations of misusing caste and disability quotas, and her family are at the centre of a web of eight companies linked to their relatives and others known to them, an investigation by The Indian Express has found.
Records show that five of these companies are run from commercial addresses in Pune linked to Khedkar’s parents, Dilip and Manorama, who are facing separate probes for alleged violations of law. In all, seven of the eight companies were formed under the umbrella of Diligence Group — the eighth is Puja Automobiles, a firm in which Manorama is a partner along with her husband’s brother-in-law.
The Diligence companies include Thermoverita Engineering, which owns the two luxury cars that have featured in controversies surrounding Puja and her father. Records show that its shareholders include Lata Bangar, who is the sister of Puja’s father Dilip, and her husband Mahadev Bangar. The company’s address is a commercial plot owned by Manorama in Pune’s Talawade — this address was also used by Puja to obtain the ration card for her disability certificate.
The other Diligence companies include two “sugar & agro” firms — all of them have the Khedkars or their close relatives and others linked to them listed as directors or shareholders.
The Indian Express tracked down records linked to the Diligence Group companies, and the automobile firm, and spoke to some of the key relatives of the Khedkars and others named in these commercial entities. This is what it found:
📌 Of the Diligence Group companies, Puja, who is identified as “Pooja” in records, held a 20% stake in Diligence Infraprojects in 2018. Her brother Piyush owned 50% stake in Om Deep Sugar & Agro in 2022. Their mother Manorama was a shareholder in three of these firms — Diligence Sugar & Agro, Diligence (India) Corporation and Diligence Infraprojects — at least until 2018.
📌 Except for Om Deep Sugar & Agro, none of the other six Diligence Group companies have filed their annual returns after 2019.
📌 Dilip’s brother-in-law Mahadev is linked in records to four Diligence companies. Mahadev is also a partner in Puja Automobiles, a tractor dealership run by Manorama in Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. Speaking to The Indian Express over phone, Mahadev claimed he was not involved in the functioning of these companies. “We are partners but the companies are now closed. There were other people involved as well. I don’t have much idea about these businesses. Khedkars are our relatives. Lata is Dilip Khedkar’s sister,” he said.
Source: https://indianexpress.com/article/long-reads/puja-khedkar-ias-trainee-family-firms-9469725/