PUNE:
Manorama Khedkar
, mother of probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar, was
arrested
Thursday by
Pune Rural police
in a rioting, threatening and Arms Act violation case - six days after a video of her brandishing a gun at farmers went viral and the case was registered against her and six others, including Puja's father, Dilip Khedkar.
Later, she was remanded in police custody till July 20 after police told the court that a case of attempted murder has been invoked against her.
SP (Pune Rural) Pankaj Deshmukh told TOI, "Our local crime branch team tracked Manorama's movement and detained her from Parvati Nivas, a home stay facility at Hirkaniwadi in Raigad district early Thursday. She was taken to Mahad police station and was formally arrested around 7.30am."
Puja's mom used borrowed Aadhaar to book room, tracked her when cell was activated: SP
Manorama was staying at Parvati Nivas under a fictitious identity 'Indubai Dhakane'. A cab driver, Dadasaheb Dhakane, showed his Aadhaar card to the facility owner while Manorama showed the Aadhaar card of the cab driver's mother to get the room booked," SP (Pune Rural) Deshmukh said.
"Our team was alerted by a cell phone which got activated while it was on surveillance. The location was Hirkaniwadi, where we immediately went," the SP said.
Paud police in rural Pune on July 12 had registered the case after a video went viral showing Manorama, accompanied by bouncers, brandishing a .25 Webley & Scott pistol on June 5, 2023, during an argument with farmers over a land ownership issue at Dhadhawali village in Mulshi tehsil. One of the farmers lodged a complaint.
Manorama was produced before judicial magistrate first class Sudhir G Barde in Paud Thursday and remanded in police custody till July 20 after assistant public prosecutor Amar Nanaware told the court police have invoked an attempted murder charge against her based on a supplementary statement recorded by complainant Pandharinath Pasalkar.
Nanaware also submitted that the police needed Manorama's custodial remand to recover her licensed pistol and establish the places she visited while on the run.
(Inputs by Asseem Shaikh)
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