SC directs former IAS trainee officer Puja Khedkar to appear before police
The Supreme Court said that Khedkar will not be arrested but ‘drastic’ steps will follow if she refuses to cooperate with the probe
The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Delhi police to question former Indian Administrative Service (IAS) trainee officer Puja Khedkar, accused of forging documents to obtain eligibility for the 2022 civil services examination, on May 2, with a clear direction that Khedkar will not be arrested but “drastic” steps will follow if she refuses to cooperate with the probe.
Taking up a plea by Khedkar seeking anticipatory bail in the matter, a bench of justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma questioned the police for insisting on custodial interrogation and not conducting her routine questioning. The bench observed, “It appears there has been no concrete investigation of the petitioner as such.”
Khedkar, represented by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra and advocate Bina Madhavan told the bench that she wrote to the police on March 6 showing her willingness to be questioned. However, the police did not respond to the request.
Fixing the first date of questioning to be on May 2, the bench directed Khedkar to appear before the assistant commissioner of police (ACP), Crime Branch (Central Range) at 10.30 am and granted liberty to the police to call her on subsequent dates as well.
At the same time, the order protected Khedkar from any “coercive action” in connection with the first information report (FIR) lodged on July 19 last year in which she sought anticipatory bail. Since February this year, the top court has protected her from arrest.
The court reminded Khedkar that the protection granted is subject to her full cooperation with the probe. “We have said the police cannot arrest her, but that does not mean she will not cooperate,” the bench said, while adding, “If she does not cooperate and pass documents as required for the probe, we will have to take some drastic steps and pass stringent orders.”
The court posted the matter for consideration on May 21 while directing the police to conclude the investigation of the case “as expeditiously as possible”.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju appearing for the Delhi police told the court that till date, the police refrained from calling her for questioning as she enjoyed protection from the top court. He said for an effective probe, the police require to arrest her and carry out custodial interrogation.
The bench remarked, “You first interrogate her. There is no need for custodial interrogation. The effectiveness of interrogation will depend on you, how you extract information and file your charge sheet.”
The law officer suggested that the police want to probe the larger conspiracy in the matter as Khedkar enjoys a lot of political clout with which she managed to forge her certificates and change names for securing illegal attempts to sit for the civil services examination.
The court insisted, “What is coming in the way. It seems you are not effectively investigating her. What have you done since our last order of April 15 directing you to probe her. Since our last order, how many hours have you questioned her.”
ASG Raju said that by calling her for interrogation, she will use it in her favour that her interrogation is over, and she is no longer required to appear before the police. “We want the protection order to go, otherwise her interrogation will become a mere ritual,” he said. Raju pointed out that this is a case where the petitioner hoodwinked the Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) by appearing for the Civil Services Examination (CSE) 12 times by forging documents and changing name. “A clear case of Section 467 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) is prima facie made out which is punishable with life imprisonment,” ASG said. Section 467 deals with forgery of a “valuable security” involving legal or financial documents.
Incidentally, Section 467 is not included in the FIR lodged against her. In December last year, the Delhi high court refused to grant her anticipatory bail forming a prima facie view that a larger conspiracy needs to be probed behind her attempt to dupe the UPSC.
Luthra, who represented Khedkar, said that she is willing to appear next week. He explained that all through when the matter was pending in the high court, she was protected from arrest. “At no point of time has the police called me for questioning since the registration of FIR,” Luthra said.
As per the case against her, from year 2012 to 2017 she appeared in the CSE based on the OBC certificate, belonging to Vanjari community, falling under other backward class (OBC), issued to her by sub-divisional officer, Pathravi in district Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. In 2018, when the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD) Act came into force, she became eligible to appear as PwBD candidate and appeared as such in the CSE since the year 2018.
According to the investigation conducted against her, while attempting CSE 2020, she had already exhausted all the nine permissible attempts available to PwBD + OBC candidates and was not eligible to appear in the CSE 2021. However, she changed her name in the year 2021 and appeared in CSE 2021, 2022, and 2023 by making “incorrect or false statements” regarding the number of attempts already availed by her.
UPSC issued her show cause notices in July last year for alleged suppression of information. This was followed by show cause notice issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension before UPSC cancelled her provisional candidature on July 31, 2024.
Khedkar in her petition said that the high court failed to appreciate that the charges against her pertain to cheating and fraud based on documentary evidence, which is already in possession of the police, making it a fit case for grant of anticipatory bail. She claimed to be suffering from multiple disability of low vision, hearing impairment, and mental illness to be eligible under the disability category as well.
