SC grants ex-IAS probationer protection from arrest till mar 17
A bench headed by justice BV Nagarathna told Khedkar to cooperate with the investigation and posted the matter for further hearing on March 18.
The Supreme Court on Friday extended its interim order granting protection from arrest to former IAS probationary officer Puja Khedkar in a case where she has been accused of misrepresentation to avail more attempts in the civil services examination (CSE) after the Delhi police sought time to file its response to her plea seeking anticipatory bail.
A bench headed by justice BV Nagarathna told Khedkar to cooperate with the investigation and posted the matter for further hearing on March 18.
Additional solicitor general (ASG) SV Raju appearing for the Delhi police informed the court that it required time to file its response and termed the allegations against Khedkar “serious”. The bench, also comprising justice SC Sharma said, “The matter is adjourned by three weeks as ASG has sought for some time to file counter affidavit. In the interregnum, the interim order of January 15 shall continue till the next date of hearing, provided that the petitioner cooperates with the investigation.”
ASG Raju told the court that the order of the court should not be misused by the petitioner who may claim anticipatory bail on the ground that she has cooperated with the investigation. “This is a very serious case...I need time to file a response. She has already been protected by this court”
On January 15, the top court said, “no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioner vis-a-vis the FIR registered against her.” As this protection was ending on Friday, senior advocate Siddharth Luthra appearing for Khedkar along with advocate Bina Madhavan sought an extension of the previous order.
Luthra pointed out that till date, the police has not called her investigation although she is willing to cooperate with the probe. ASG said, “We do not want to precipitate the situation. It should not be that she says since I am cooperating, I must be granted anticipatory bail.”
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 last year refused to grant her pre-arrest bail and dismissed her petition with scathing observations pointing to a larger conspiracy behind her attempt to dupe UPSC. Khedkar argued that she is a single woman whose career is at stake as currently she has lost her job.
HC had observed that Khedkar’s case presented a “classic example” of a fraud committed not only against a constitutional body such as UPSC but also the society at large, and held that her interrogation was necessary to unearth the larger conspiracy employed by her to manipulate the system and reveal all aspects of the fraud committed against the nation. It also suspected the possibility of “unknown powerful persons” who helped her obtain the requisite certificates for appearing in CSE.
In her petition, Khedkar pointed out that the HC failed to appreciate that the charges against her pertaining mainly to cheating and fraud were based on documentary evidence already in possession of the Delhi police probing the matter. Further she stated that there was no requirement for her custodial interrogation as she had undertaken to cooperate with the probe. Earlier, a city court too refused to grant her anticipatory bail.
Khedkar claims to suffer from multiple disability of low vision, hearing impairment, and mental illness, which were recognized as multiple disabilities under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 (RPwD Act). She belongs to Vanjari community which is categorised an other backward class (OBC).
According to the case against her, between 2012 and 2017 she appeared in CSE based on the OBC certificate issued to her by sub-divisional officer, Pathravi in district Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. In 2018, when the RPwD Act came into force, she became eligible to appear as PwBD candidate and appeared as such in in CSE after 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 deliberately 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 had 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.
She has been charged with commission of offense under Sections 420 (cheating), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document), and 120B (criminal conspiracy) of Indian Penal Code; besides provisions under the Information Technology Act and RPwD Act.