After Puja Khedkar, now former bureaucrat and actor Abhishek Singh faces heat over disability claim

Abhishek dropped a video of his dance and gym on social media drawing questions from the netizens over his claim to have locomotor disability.

Facing the criticism, the 2011 batch IAS officer posted on X, "Although I am not affected by any criticism, but this is the first time in my lifetime that I am answering my critics. And that is because thousands of my supporters are telling me that you should answer otherwise our morale will break. So it is my moral duty to put the truth in front so that their trust is not broken. So this answer is dedicated to my supporters and not to the critics."

An excerpt of his post reads, "Whatever I have set my mind to in my life so far, I have achieved it through my hard work and dedication. So now that I have raised the issue, I am taking another resolution.

"Wherever the government's resources are spent in this country, it should be done in a fair manner. Reservation in government jobs should be in accordance with the population. Now I will start a movement and will demand reservation in accordance with the population by removing this 50% ceiling and will get it fulfilled constitutionally."

Meanwhile, the Centre has formed a committee to verify "candidature claims and other details" submitted by trainee IAS officer Puja Khedkar, who has been accused of misusing disability and OBC quota to secure a position in the service.

The 2023-batch trainee IAS officer is at the centre of massive allegations of impropriety and misuse of her position as a bureaucrat.

The single-member committee will submit its report in two weeks.

"The central government has constituted a single-member committee, chaired by a senior officer of the rank of Additional Secretary to government of India to verify the candidature claims and other details of Ms. Puja Manorma Dilip Khedkar, a candidate of Civil Services Examination-2022 and earlier CSEs. The committee will submit its report in 2 weeks," said the Department of Personnel and Training in a statement.

Khedkar has submitted an affidavit to the Union Public Service Commission in which she claimed to be visually and mentally impaired to avail of selection process concessions.

She had refused, six times, to undergo a mandatory medical test to confirm her disabilities.

It is unclear how, or why, she was appointed if she declined to appear for the examination.

Unconfirmed reports say the first test had been scheduled at Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences for April 2022. She skipped this claiming to have tested positive for COVID-19.

She also skipped two appointments for the following months in July and August and half-attended a sixth one in September. However, she did not appear for an MRI test to assess vision loss.