SC extends ex-probationary IAS officer Puja Khedkar’s protection from arrest
The Supreme Court granted the extension after the Delhi Police sought time to file its response to Puja Khedkar’s anticipatory bail plea
The Supreme Court on Friday extended its interim order granting protection from arrest to former probationary Indian Administrative Service officer Puja Khedkar accused of fraudulently availing additional attempts in the civil services examination. The extension was granted after the Delhi Police sought time to respond to her anticipatory bail plea.
A bench of justices BV Nagarathna and SC Sharma told Khedkar to cooperate with the investigation and posted the matter for hearing on March 18.
Additional solicitor general SV Raju, appearing for the Delhi Police, informed the court they require time to file the response. He called the allegations against Khedkar serious.
Raju said Khedkar should not misuse the order court order. He added she may claim anticipatory bail saying she has cooperated with the investigation.
On January 15, the court said no coercive steps be taken against her. The protection ended on Friday.
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, who appeared for Khedkar, sought an extension of the previous order. Luthra said police have not called Khedkar for investigation although she is willing to cooperate with the probe.
Khedkar is accused of suppressing information from the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) that cancelled her candidature on July 31 last year.
The Delhi high court in December refused to grant her pre-arrest bail. It dismissed her petition pointing to a larger conspiracy behind her attempt to dupe the UPSC. Khedkar argued that she was a single woman whose career was at stake as she had lost her job.
The high court said that Khedkar’s case presented a “classic example” of fraud committed against a constitutional body such as UPSC and society. It added her interrogation was necessary to unearth the larger conspiracy to manipulate the system and reveal all aspects of the fraud committed against the nation.
The high court said there was a possibility of “unknown powerful persons” helping her obtain the requisite certificates.
In her petition, Khedkar pointed out the high court failed to appreciate that the charges against her pertaining mainly to cheating and fraud were based on documentary evidence in the possession of the police probing the matter. She added there was no requirement for her custodial interrogation as she had undertaken to cooperate with the probe. Earlier, a local court refused to grant her anticipatory bail.
Khedkar’s petition said she is an unmarried woman with no criminal antecedents. She added she has a benchmark disability that was verified after she entered the All India Services. Khedkar joined the bureaucracy as a probationer after clearing the civil services examination in 2022 in the persons with benchmark disability (PwBD) category.
An investigation suggested she had exhausted all the nine permissible attempts available to PwBD and Other Backward Class candidates when she took the civil services exam in 2020. She allegedly changed her name in 2021 and appeared in exams in 2021, 2022, and 2023 by making “incorrect or false statements” regarding the number of attempts availed.